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Hou M, Akhtar MS, Hayashi M, Ashino R, Matsumoto-Oda A, Hayakawa T, Ishida T, Melin AD, Imai H, Kawamura S. Reduction of bitter taste receptor gene family in folivorous colobine primates relative to omnivorous cercopithecine primates. Primates 2024; 65:311-331. [PMID: 38605281 PMCID: PMC11219393 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-024-01124-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Bitter taste perception is important in preventing animals from ingesting potentially toxic compounds. Whole-genome assembly (WGA) data have revealed that bitter taste receptor genes (TAS2Rs) comprise a multigene family with dozens of intact and disrupted genes in primates. However, publicly available WGA data are often incomplete, especially for multigene families. In this study, we employed a targeted capture (TC) approach specifically probing TAS2Rs for ten species of cercopithecid primates with diverse diets, including eight omnivorous cercopithecine species and two folivorous colobine species. We designed RNA probes for all TAS2Rs that we modeled to be intact in the common ancestor of cercopithecids ("ancestral-cercopithecid TAS2R gene set"). The TC was followed by short-read and high-depth massive-parallel sequencing. TC retrieved more intact TAS2R genes than found in WGA databases. We confirmed a large number of gene "births" at the common ancestor of cercopithecids and found that the colobine common ancestor and the cercopithecine common ancestor had contrasting trajectories: four gene "deaths" and three gene births, respectively. The number of intact TAS2R genes was markedly reduced in colobines (25-28 detected via TC and 20-26 detected via WGA analysis) as compared with cercopithecines (27-36 via TC and 19-30 via WGA). Birth or death events occurred at almost every phylogenetic-tree branch, making the composition of intact genes variable among species. These results show that evolutionary change in intact TAS2R genes is a complex process, refute a simple general prediction that herbivory favors more TAS2R genes, and have implications for understanding dietary adaptations and the evolution of detoxification abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Hou
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bioscience BLDG Room 502, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Muhammad Shoaib Akhtar
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bioscience BLDG Room 502, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Masahiro Hayashi
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bioscience BLDG Room 502, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Ryuichi Ashino
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bioscience BLDG Room 502, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562, Japan
| | - Akiko Matsumoto-Oda
- Graduate School of Tourism Sciences, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Takashi Hayakawa
- Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
- Japan Monkey Centre, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan
| | - Takafumi Ishida
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Amanda D Melin
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Hiroo Imai
- Molecular Biology Section, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Aichi, Japan
| | - Shoji Kawamura
- Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bioscience BLDG Room 502, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562, Japan.
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Veilleux CC, Dominy NJ, Melin AD. The sensory ecology of primate food perception, revisited. Evol Anthropol 2022; 31:281-301. [PMID: 36519416 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Twenty years ago, Dominy and colleagues published "The sensory ecology of primate food perception," an impactful review that brought new perspectives to understanding primate foraging adaptations. Their review synthesized information on primate senses and explored how senses informed feeding behavior. Research on primate sensory ecology has seen explosive growth in the last two decades. Here, we revisit this important topic, focusing on the numerous new discoveries and lines of innovative research. We begin by reviewing each of the five traditionally recognized senses involved in foraging: audition, olfaction, vision, touch, and taste. For each sense, we provide an overview of sensory function and comparative ecology, comment on the state of knowledge at the time of the original review, and highlight advancements and lingering gaps in knowledge. Next, we provide an outline for creative, multidisciplinary, and innovative future research programs that we anticipate will generate exciting new discoveries in the next two decades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carrie C Veilleux
- Department of Anatomy, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona, USA
| | - Nathaniel J Dominy
- Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Amanda D Melin
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.,Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.,Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Itoigawa A, Hayakawa T, Zhou Y, Manning AD, Zhang G, Grutzner F, Imai H. Functional Diversity and Evolution of Bitter Taste Receptors in Egg-Laying Mammals. Mol Biol Evol 2022; 39:6591311. [PMID: 35652727 PMCID: PMC9161717 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Egg-laying mammals (monotremes) are a sister clade of therians (placental mammals and marsupials) and a key clade to understand mammalian evolution. They are classified into platypus and echidna, which exhibit distinct ecological features such as habitats and diet. Chemosensory genes, which encode sensory receptors for taste and smell, are believed to adapt to the individual habitats and diet of each mammal. In this study, we focused on the molecular evolution of bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) in monotremes. The sense of bitter taste is important to detect potentially harmful substances. We comprehensively surveyed agonists of all TAS2Rs in platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) and compared their functions with orthologous TAS2Rs of marsupial and placental mammals (i.e., therians). As results, the agonist screening revealed that the deorphanized monotreme receptors were functionally diversified. Platypus TAS2Rs had broader receptive ranges of agonists than those of echidna TAS2Rs. While platypus consumes a variety of aquatic invertebrates, echidna mainly consumes subterranean social insects (ants and termites) as well as other invertebrates. This result indicates that receptive ranges of TAS2Rs could be associated with feeding habits in monotremes. Furthermore, some orthologous receptors in monotremes and therians responded to β-glucosides, which are feeding deterrents in plants and insects. These results suggest that the ability to detect β-glucosides and other substances might be shared and ancestral among mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akihiro Itoigawa
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan.,Department of Agricultural Chemistry, School of Agriculture, Meiji University, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Takashi Hayakawa
- Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.,Japan Monkey Centre, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan
| | | | - Adrian D Manning
- Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Guojie Zhang
- Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark
| | - Frank Grutzner
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Hiroo Imai
- Molecular Biology Section, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan
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Yang H, Yang S, Fan F, Li Y, Dai S, Zhou X, Steiner CC, Coppedge B, Roos C, Cai X, Irwin DM, Shi P. A New World Monkey Resembles Human in Bitter Taste Receptor Evolution and Function via a Single Parallel Amino Acid Substitution. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 38:5472-5479. [PMID: 34469542 PMCID: PMC8662605 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msab263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Bitter taste receptors serve as a vital component in the defense system against toxin intake by animals, and the family of genes encoding these receptors has been demonstrated, usually by family size variance, to correlate with dietary preference. However, few systematic studies of specific Tas2R to unveil their functional evolution have been conducted. Here, we surveyed Tas2R16 across all major clades of primates and reported a rare case of a convergent change to increase sensitivity to β-glucopyranosides in human and a New World monkey, the white-faced saki. Combining analyses at multiple levels, we demonstrate that a parallel amino acid substitution (K172N) shared by these two species is responsible for this functional convergence of Tas2R16. Considering the specialized feeding preference of the white-faced saki, the K172N change likely played an important adaptive role in its early evolution to avoid potentially toxic cyanogenic glycosides, as suggested for the human TAS2R16 gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Songlin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.,University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Fei Fan
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.,University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Yun Li
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.,University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Shaoxing Dai
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Xin Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Cynthia C Steiner
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Beckman Center for Conservation Research, San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA, 15600, United States 92027
| | - Bretton Coppedge
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Beckman Center for Conservation Research, San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA, 15600, United States 92027
| | - Christian Roos
- Gene Bank of Primates and Primate Genetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, Göttingen, 37077, Germany
| | - Xianghai Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201, China
| | - David M Irwin
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Peng Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China.,Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
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