Chemosensation is the most ubiquitous sense in animals,enacted by the products of complex gene families that detect environmental chemical cues and larger-scale sensory structures that process these cues.While there i...Chemosensation is the most ubiquitous sense in animals,enacted by the products of complex gene families that detect environmental chemical cues and larger-scale sensory structures that process these cues.While there is a general conception that olfactory receptor(OR)genes evolve rapidly,the universality of this phenomenon across vertebrates,and its magnitude,are unclear.The supposed correlation between molecular rates of chemosensory evolution and phenotypic diversity of chemosensory systems is largely untested.We combine comparative genomics and sensory morphology to test whether OR genes and olfactory phenotypic traits evolve at faster rates than other genes or traits.Using published genomes,we identified ORs in 21 tetrapods,including amphibia ns,reptiles,birds,and mammals and compared their rates of evolution to those of orthologous non-OR protein-coding genes.We found that,for all clades investigated,most OR genes evolve nearly an order of magnitude faster than other protein-coding genes,with many OR genes showing signatures of diversifying selection across nearly all taxa in this study.This rapid rate of evolution suggests that chemoreceptor genes are in "evolutionary overdrive,"perhaps evolving in response to the ever-changing chemical space of the environment.To obtain complementary morphological data,we stained whole fixed specimens with iodine,μCT-scanned the specimens,and digitally segmented chemosensory and nonchemosensory brain regions.We then estimated phenotypic variation within traits and among tetrapods.While we found considerable variation in chemosensory structures,they were no more diverse than nonchemosensory regions.We suggest chemoreceptor genes evolve quickly in reflection of an ever-changing chemical space,whereas chemosensory phe no types and processing regions are more conserved because they use a standardized or constrained architecture to receive and process a range of chemical cues.展开更多
基金L.R.Y.was supported by the National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology(NSF-DBI 1812035)and the Linnean Society of London and the Systematics Association Systematics Research Fund.M.H.was supported by the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies Small Grants Program Doctoral Pilot Award.B.A.S.B.was supported by Yale University and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies.
文摘Chemosensation is the most ubiquitous sense in animals,enacted by the products of complex gene families that detect environmental chemical cues and larger-scale sensory structures that process these cues.While there is a general conception that olfactory receptor(OR)genes evolve rapidly,the universality of this phenomenon across vertebrates,and its magnitude,are unclear.The supposed correlation between molecular rates of chemosensory evolution and phenotypic diversity of chemosensory systems is largely untested.We combine comparative genomics and sensory morphology to test whether OR genes and olfactory phenotypic traits evolve at faster rates than other genes or traits.Using published genomes,we identified ORs in 21 tetrapods,including amphibia ns,reptiles,birds,and mammals and compared their rates of evolution to those of orthologous non-OR protein-coding genes.We found that,for all clades investigated,most OR genes evolve nearly an order of magnitude faster than other protein-coding genes,with many OR genes showing signatures of diversifying selection across nearly all taxa in this study.This rapid rate of evolution suggests that chemoreceptor genes are in "evolutionary overdrive,"perhaps evolving in response to the ever-changing chemical space of the environment.To obtain complementary morphological data,we stained whole fixed specimens with iodine,μCT-scanned the specimens,and digitally segmented chemosensory and nonchemosensory brain regions.We then estimated phenotypic variation within traits and among tetrapods.While we found considerable variation in chemosensory structures,they were no more diverse than nonchemosensory regions.We suggest chemoreceptor genes evolve quickly in reflection of an ever-changing chemical space,whereas chemosensory phe no types and processing regions are more conserved because they use a standardized or constrained architecture to receive and process a range of chemical cues.
