Linked Life Data

19965911

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/19965911

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
2010-4-16
pubmed:abstractText
It has been suggested that positive selection, in particular selection favoring a change in the protein sequence, plays a role in the evolution of olfactory receptor (OR) gene repertoires in fish and mammals. ORs are 7-transmembrane domain (TM) proteins, members of the G-protein-coupled receptor superfamily in vertebrate genomes, and responsible for odorant binding and discrimination. OR gene repertoires in birds are surprisingly large and diverse, suggesting that birds have a keen olfactory sense. The aim of this study is to investigate signatures of positive selection in an expanded OR clade (group-gamma-c) that seems to be a characteristic of avian genomes. Using maximum-likelihood methods that estimate the d(N)/d(S) ratios and account for the effects of recombination, we show here that there is evidence for positive selection in group-gamma-c partial OR coding sequences of 9 bird species that are likely to have different olfactory abilities: the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), the black coucal (Centropus grillii), the brown kiwi (Apteryx australis), the canary (Serinus canaria), the galah (Eolophus roseicapillus), the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus), the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), and the snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea). Positively selected codons were predominantly located in TMs, which in other vertebrates are involved in odorant binding. Our data suggest that 1) at least some avian OR genes have been subjected to adaptive evolution, 2) the extent of such adaptive evolution differs between bird species, and 3) positive selective pressures may have been stronger on the group-gamma-c OR genes of species that have well-developed olfactory abilities.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
1465-7333
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
101
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
325-33
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:articleTitle
Evidence for adaptive evolution of olfactory receptor genes in 9 bird species.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Behavioral Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max-Planck Institute for Ornithology, PO Box 1564, 82305 Starnberg. steiger@orn.mpg.de
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't