Sensory perception plays one of the most important roles in the survival of an individual and
is responsible for many key behaviors (e.g., foraging, predator avoidance, mate recognition, and
communication) that drive evolution. Therefore, genes involved in sensory perception should
show signs of adaptation and selection, as these genes are at the frontline of evolutionary
pressures. Indeed, spectacular evidence of molecular convergence has been uncovered in hearing genes
in echolocating whales and certain echolocating bats. Olfactory receptor genes that are
directly involved in olfaction show evidence of environmental niche specialization in aquatic,
terrestrial, and flying mammals, even after controlling for phylogeny. Similar loss of
function in short-wave opsin visual genes has been found in bats with advanced echolocation
capabilities. Bats have undergone the most extensive loss of function of the pheromone-detecting
vomeronasal system compared with any other mammalian group, offering an opportunity to
better understand the process of sensory vestigialization and the vomeronasal loss seen
throughout mammals, including humans. Therefore, studying the evolution of these genes and
genomic regions in bats—the sensory specialists—will elucidate how the mammalian genome has
responded to past evolutionary pressures driven by changing environmental conditions. Comparative
genomic analyses will also help illuminate the evolution and inheritance of blindness and
deafness in humans by identifying regions of these genes that are most likely to cause disease and
thus identifying putative targets for downstream gene therapeutics. This is an important
advance, as the World Health Organization has estimated that 285 million people worldwide are
visually impaired, 39 million of them are blind, and over 360 million people have severe
hearing loss. Bats have also been shown to be an excellent model for sensory-driven speciation
[e.g., Rhinolophus philippinensis, Craseonycteris thonglongyai]. High-quality bat genomes will
enable further elucidation of the molecular basis of sensory adaptation and finally untangle the
evolutionary mechanisms driving speciation.