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Lazzeroni ME, Burbrink FT, Simmons NB. Hibernation in bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) did not evolve through positive selection of leptin. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:12576-12596. [PMID: 30619566 PMCID: PMC6308895 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Revised: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 09/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Temperature regulation is an indispensable physiological activity critical for animal survival. However, relatively little is known about the origin of thermoregulatory regimes in a phylogenetic context, or the genetic mechanisms driving the evolution of these regimes. Using bats as a study system, we examined the evolution of three thermoregulatory regimes (hibernation, daily heterothermy, and homeothermy) in relation to the evolution of leptin, a protein implicated in regulation of torpor bouts in mammals, including bats. A threshold model was used to test for a correlation between lineages with positively selected lep, the gene encoding leptin, and the thermoregulatory regimes of those lineages. Although evidence for episodic positive selection of lep was found, positive selection was not correlated with lineages of heterothermic bats, a finding that contradicts results from previous studies. Evidence from our ancestral state reconstructions suggests that the most recent common ancestor of bats used daily heterothermy and that the presence of hibernation is highly unlikely at this node. Hibernation likely evolved independently at least four times in bats-once in the common ancestor of Vespertilionidae and Molossidae, once in the clade containing Rhinolophidae and Rhinopomatidae, and again independently in the lineages leading to Taphozous melanopogon and Mystacina tuberculata. Our reconstructions revealed that thermoregulatory regimes never transitioned directly from hibernation to homeothermy, or the reverse, in the evolutionary history of bats. This, in addition to recent evidence that heterothermy is best described along a continuum, suggests that thermoregulatory regimes in mammals are best represented as an ordered continuous trait (homeothermy ← → daily torpor ← → hibernation) rather than as the three discrete regimes that evolve in an unordered fashion. These results have important implications for methodological approaches in future physiological and evolutionary research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Frank T. Burbrink
- Division of Vertebrate Zoology, Department of HerpetologyAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNew York
| | - Nancy B. Simmons
- Division of Vertebrate Zoology, Department of MammalogyAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNew York
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Zhu T, Yuan L, Jones G, Hua P, He G, Chen J, Zhang S. OB-RL silencing inhibits the thermoregulatory ability of Great Roundleaf Bats (Hipposideros armiger). Gen Comp Endocrinol 2014; 204:80-7. [PMID: 24815886 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2014.04.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2013] [Revised: 04/22/2014] [Accepted: 04/26/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that the hormone Leptin has an important role in mammalian heterothermy by regulating metabolism and food intake via lipolysis, as well as adaptive evolution of Leptin in heterothermic bats driven by selected pressure. However, the mechanism of Leptin in heterothermic regulation in mammals is unknown. By combining previous results, we speculated that the Leptin signaling pathway mediated by OB-RL (Leptin receptor long form) in the hypothalamus is important. OB-RL is one of the products of db gene and mainly distributed in the hypothalamus. In this study, we used OB-RL as a molecular marker, combining with the RNA interference technology and physiological/molecular analyses with Hipposideros armiger (a hibernating bat species) as an animal model, to explore the mechanism of Leptin in heterothermic regulation. Our data showed that all of four anti-OB-RL shRNA lentivirus significantly inhibited OB-RL expression (>90%), and the interference efficiency of PSC1742 lentivirus reached the highest value. In situ hybridization proved that PSC1742 lentivirus significantly decreased the OB-RL expression in the hypothalamus, especially in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VHM, 86.6%). Physiological analysis demonstrated that the thermoregulatory ability of bats (e.g., reducing core body temperature and heart rate) was significantly depressed after OB-RL silencing in the hypothalamus, and animals could not enter torpor state. Our study for the first time proved that the knock-down of OB-RL expression in hypothalamus inhibits heterothermic regulation of bats, and also provided the clues for further analyzing the mechanism of Leptin in the heterothermic regulation of mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengteng Zhu
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Lihong Yuan
- Guangdong Entomological Institute/South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou 510260, China.
| | - Gareth Jones
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, BS8 1UG Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Panyu Hua
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Guimei He
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Jinping Chen
- Guangdong Entomological Institute/South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou 510260, China
| | - Shuyi Zhang
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
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3
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Doherty AH, Florant GL, Donahue SW. Endocrine regulation of bone and energy metabolism in hibernating mammals. Integr Comp Biol 2014; 54:463-83. [PMID: 24556365 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icu001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Precise coordination among organs is required to maintain homeostasis throughout hibernation. This is particularly true in balancing bone remodeling processes (bone formation and resorption) in hibernators experiencing nutritional deprivation and extreme physical inactivity, two factors normally leading to pronounced bone loss in non-hibernating mammals. In recent years, important relationships between bone, fat, reproductive, and brain tissues have come to light. These systems share interconnected regulatory mechanisms of energy metabolism that potentially protect the skeleton during hibernation. This review focuses on the endocrine and neuroendocrine regulation of bone/fat/energy metabolism in hibernators. Hibernators appear to have unique mechanisms that protect musculoskeletal tissues while catabolizing their abundant stores of fat. Furthermore, the bone remodeling processes that normally cause disuse-induced bone loss in non-hibernators are compared to bone remodeling processes in hibernators, and possible adaptations of the bone signaling pathways that protect the skeleton during hibernation are discussed. Understanding the biological mechanisms that allow hibernators to survive the prolonged disuse and fasting associated with extreme environmental challenges will provide critical information regarding the limit of convergence in mammalian systems and of skeletal plasticity, and may contribute valuable insight into the etiology and treatment of human diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison H Doherty
- *Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA*Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA
| | - Gregory L Florant
- *Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA
| | - Seth W Donahue
- *Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1620, USA
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4
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Natural selection and adaptive evolution of leptin. CHINESE SCIENCE BULLETIN-CHINESE 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s11434-012-5635-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Yuan L, Zhao X, Lin B, Rossiter SJ, He L, Zuo X, He G, Jones G, Geiser F, Zhang S. Adaptive evolution of Leptin in heterothermic bats. PLoS One 2011; 6:e27189. [PMID: 22110614 PMCID: PMC3217946 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2011] [Accepted: 10/11/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Heterothermy (hibernation and daily torpor) is a key strategy that animals use to survive in harsh conditions and is widely employed by bats, which are found in diverse habitats and climates. Bats comprise more than 20% of all mammals and although heterothermy occurs in divergent lineages of bats, suggesting it might be an ancestral condition, its evolutionary history is complicated by complex phylogeographic patterns. Here, we use Leptin, which regulates lipid metabolism and is crucial for thermogenesis of hibernators, as molecular marker and combine physiological, molecular and biochemical analyses to explore the possible evolutionary history of heterothermy in bat. The two tropical fruit bats examined here were homeothermic; in contrast, the two tropical insectivorous bats were clearly heterothermic. Molecular evolutionary analyses of the Leptin gene revealed positive selection in the ancestors of all bats, which was maintained or further enhanced the lineages comprising mostly heterothermic species. In contrast, we found evidence of relaxed selection in homeothermic species. Biochemical assays of bat Leptin on the activity on adipocyte degradation revealed that Leptin in heterothermic bats was more lipolytic than in homeothermic bats. This shows that evolutionary sequence changes in this protein are indeed functional and support the interpretation of our physiological results and the molecular evolutionary analyses. Our combined data strongly support the hypothesis that heterothermy is the ancestral state of bats and that this involved adaptive changes in Leptin. Subsequent loss of heterothermy in some tropical lineages of bats likely was associated with range and dietary shifts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lihong Yuan
- South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Marine Bio-resources Sustainable Utilization, Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology of Guangdong Province, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xudong Zhao
- Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Benfu Lin
- South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou, China
| | - Stephen J. Rossiter
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lingjiang He
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xueguo Zuo
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Guimei He
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Gareth Jones
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Fritz Geiser
- Center for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
| | - Shuyi Zhang
- Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- * E-mail:
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