Article Functional, Morphological, and Evolutionary Characterization of Hearing in Subterranean, Eusocial African Mole-Rats Graphical Abstract Authors Sonja J. Pyott, Marcel van Tuinen, Laurel A. Screven, ..., Joseph Santos-Sacchi, Amanda M. Lauer, Thomas J. Park Correspondence
[email protected] In Brief Pyott et al. attribute comparatively poor hearing in African naked and Damaraland mole-rats to lack of cochlear amplification, disrupted hair bundles, and hair bundle proteins bearing deafness- associated amino acid substitutions. Positive selection in some bundle proteins suggests altered hearing is adaptive to subterranean and eusocial lifestyles. Highlights d Hearing is comparatively poor in African naked and Damaraland mole-rats d These mole-rats lack cochlear amplification and have disrupted hair bundles d Hair bundle proteins bear deafness-associated amino acid substitutions d Positive selection in some bundle proteins suggests altered hearing is adaptive Pyott et al., 2020, Current Biology 30, 1–13 November 16, 2020 ª 2020 Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.035 ll Please cite this article in press as: Pyott et al., Functional, Morphological, and Evolutionary Characterization of Hearing in Subterranean, Eusocial Af- rican Mole-Rats, Current Biology (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.035 ll Article Functional, Morphological, and Evolutionary Characterization of Hearing in Subterranean, Eusocial African Mole-Rats Sonja J. Pyott,1,9,* Marcel van Tuinen,1 Laurel A. Screven,2 Katrina M. Schrode,2 Jun-Ping Bai,3 Catherine M. Barone,4 Steven D. Price,5 Anna Lysakowski,5 Maxwell Sanderford,6 Sudhir Kumar,6,7 Joseph Santos-Sacchi,8 Amanda M.