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Itoigawa A, Nakagita T, Toda Y. The Remarkable Diversity of Vertebrate Bitter Taste Receptors: Recent Advances in Genomic and Functional Studies. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:12654. [PMID: 39684366 DOI: 10.3390/ijms252312654] [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: 05/31/2024] [Revised: 11/07/2024] [Accepted: 11/12/2024] [Indexed: 12/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Bitter taste perception is crucial for animal survival. By detecting potentially harmful substances, such as plant secondary metabolites, as bitter, animals can avoid ingesting toxic compounds. In vertebrates, this function is mediated by taste receptors type 2 (T2Rs), a family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) expressed on taste buds. Given their vital roles, T2Rs have undergone significant selective pressures throughout vertebrate evolution, leading to frequent gene duplications and deletions, functional changes, and intrapopulation differentiation across various lineages. Recent advancements in genomic and functional research have uncovered the repertoires and functions of bitter taste receptors in a wide range of vertebrate species, shedding light on their evolution in relation to dietary habits and other ecological factors. This review summarizes recent research on bitter taste receptors and explores the mechanisms driving the diversity of these receptors from the perspective of vertebrate ecology and evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akihiro Itoigawa
- Department of Agricultural Chemistry, School of Agriculture, Meiji University, Kawasaki 214-8571, Kanagawa, Japan
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Chiyoda-ku 102-0083, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tomoya Nakagita
- Department of Agricultural Chemistry, School of Agriculture, Meiji University, Kawasaki 214-8571, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Yasuka Toda
- Department of Agricultural Chemistry, School of Agriculture, Meiji University, Kawasaki 214-8571, Kanagawa, Japan
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Mayeur H, Leyhr J, Mulley J, Leurs N, Michel L, Sharma K, Lagadec R, Aury JM, Osborne OG, Mulhair P, Poulain J, Mangenot S, Mead D, Smith M, Corton C, Oliver K, Skelton J, Betteridge E, Dolucan J, Dudchenko O, Omer AD, Weisz D, Aiden EL, McCarthy S, Sims Y, Torrance J, Tracey A, Howe K, Baril T, Hayward A, Martinand-Mari C, Sanchez S, Haitina T, Martin K, Korsching SI, Mazan S, Debiais-Thibaud M. The sensory shark: high-quality morphological, genomic and transcriptomic data for the small-spotted catshark Scyliorhinus canicula reveal the molecular bases of sensory organ evolution in jawed vertebrates. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.23.595469. [PMID: 39005470 PMCID: PMC11244906 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.23.595469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
Cartilaginous fishes (chimaeras and elasmobranchs -sharks, skates and rays) hold a key phylogenetic position to explore the origin and diversifications of jawed vertebrates. Here, we report and integrate reference genomic, transcriptomic and morphological data in the small-spotted catshark Scyliorhinus canicula to shed light on the evolution of sensory organs. We first characterise general aspects of the catshark genome, confirming the high conservation of genome organisation across cartilaginous fishes, and investigate population genomic signatures. Taking advantage of a dense sampling of transcriptomic data, we also identify gene signatures for all major organs, including chondrichthyan specializations, and evaluate expression diversifications between paralogs within major gene families involved in sensory functions. Finally, we combine these data with 3D synchrotron imaging and in situ gene expression analyses to explore chondrichthyan-specific traits and more general evolutionary trends of sensory systems. This approach brings to light, among others, novel markers of the ampullae of Lorenzini electro-sensory cells, a duplication hotspot for crystallin genes conserved in jawed vertebrates, and a new metazoan clade of the Transient-receptor potential (TRP) family. These resources and results, obtained in an experimentally tractable chondrichthyan model, open new avenues to integrate multiomics analyses for the study of elasmobranchs and jawed vertebrates.
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Policarpo M, Baldwin MW, Casane D, Salzburger W. Diversity and evolution of the vertebrate chemoreceptor gene repertoire. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1421. [PMID: 38360851 PMCID: PMC10869828 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45500-y] [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: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Chemoreception - the ability to smell and taste - is an essential sensory modality of most animals. The number and type of chemical stimuli that animals can perceive depends primarily on the diversity of chemoreceptors they possess and express. In vertebrates, six families of G protein-coupled receptors form the core of their chemosensory system, the olfactory/pheromone receptor gene families OR, TAAR, V1R and V2R, and the taste receptors T1R and T2R. Here, we study the vertebrate chemoreceptor gene repertoire and its evolutionary history. Through the examination of 1,527 vertebrate genomes, we uncover substantial differences in the number and composition of chemoreceptors across vertebrates. We show that the chemoreceptor gene families are co-evolving, highly dynamic, and characterized by lineage-specific expansions (for example, OR in tetrapods; TAAR, T1R in teleosts; V1R in mammals; V2R, T2R in amphibians) and losses. Overall, amphibians, followed by mammals, are the vertebrate clades with the largest chemoreceptor repertoires. While marine tetrapods feature a convergent reduction of chemoreceptor numbers, the number of OR genes correlates with habitat in mammals and birds and with migratory behavior in birds, and the taste receptor repertoire correlates with diet in mammals and with aquatic environment in fish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Policarpo
- Zoological Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Maude W Baldwin
- Evolution of Sensory Systems Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Didier Casane
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Université Paris Cité, UFR Sciences du Vivant, Paris, France
| | - Walter Salzburger
- Zoological Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
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Behrens M, Lang T, Korsching SI. A singular shark bitter taste receptor provides insights into the evolution of bitter taste perception. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2310347120. [PMID: 37956436 PMCID: PMC10691231 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2310347120] [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: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Many animal and plant species synthesize toxic compounds as deterrent; thus, detection of these compounds is of vital importance to avoid their ingestion. Often, such compounds are recognized by taste 2 receptors that mediate bitter taste in humans. Until now, bitter taste receptors have only been found in bony vertebrates, where they occur as a large family already in coelacanth, a "living fossil" and the earliest-diverging extant lobe-finned fish. Here, we have revisited the evolutionary origin of taste 2 receptors (T2Rs) making use of a multitude of recently available cartilaginous fish genomes. We have identified a singular T2R in 12 cartilaginous fish species (9 sharks, 1 sawfish, and 2 skates), which represents a sister clade to all bony fish T2Rs. We have examined its ligands for two shark species, a catshark and a bamboo shark. The ligand repertoire of bamboo shark represents a subset of that of the catshark, with roughly similar thresholds. Amarogentin, one of the most bitter natural substances for humans, also elicited the highest signal amplitudes with both shark receptors. Other subsets of ligands are shared with basal bony fish T2Rs indicating an astonishing degree of functional conservation over nearly 500 mya of separate evolution. Both shark receptors respond to endogenous steroids as well as xenobiotic compounds, whereas separate receptors exist for xenobiotics both in early- and late-derived bony vertebrates (coelacanth, zebrafish, and human), consistent with the shark T2R reflecting the original ligand repertoire of the ancestral bitter taste receptor at the evolutionary origin of this family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maik Behrens
- Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich, Freising85354, Germany
| | - Tatjana Lang
- Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich, Freising85354, Germany
| | - Sigrun I. Korsching
- Institute of Genetics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University at Cologne, Cologne50674, Germany
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Kowatschew D, Bozorg Nia S, Hassan S, Ustinova J, Weth F, Korsching SI. Spatial organization of olfactory receptor gene choice in the complete V1R-related ORA family of zebrafish. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14816. [PMID: 36045218 PMCID: PMC9433392 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17900-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The vertebrate sense of smell employs four main receptor families for detection of odors, among them the V1R/ORA family, which is unusually small and highly conserved in teleost fish. Zebrafish possess just seven ORA receptors, enabling a comprehensive analysis of the expression patterns of the entire family. The olfactory organ of zebrafish is representative for teleosts, cup-shaped, with lamella covered with sensory epithelium protruding into the cup from a median raphe. We have performed quantitative in situ hybridization on complete series of horizontal cryostat sections of adult zebrafish olfactory organ, and have analysed the location of ora-expressing cells in three dimensions, radial diameter, laminar height, and height-within-the-organ. We report broadly overlapping, but distinctly different distributions for all ora genes, even for ora3a and ora3b, the most recent gene duplication. Preferred positions in different dimensions are independent of each other. This spatial logic is very similar to previous reports for the much larger families of odorant receptor (or) and V2R-related olfC genes in zebrafish. Preferred positions for ora genes tend to be more central and more apical than those we observed for these other two families, consistent with expression in non-canonical sensory neuron types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Kowatschew
- Institute of Genetics, Mathematical-Natural Sciences Faculty of the University at Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47A, 50674, Cologne, Germany
| | - Shahrzad Bozorg Nia
- Institute of Genetics, Mathematical-Natural Sciences Faculty of the University at Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47A, 50674, Cologne, Germany
| | - Shahzaib Hassan
- Institute of Genetics, Mathematical-Natural Sciences Faculty of the University at Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47A, 50674, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jana Ustinova
- Zoological Institute, Department of Cell- and Neurobiology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Fritz-Haber-Weg 4, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Franco Weth
- Zoological Institute, Department of Cell- and Neurobiology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Fritz-Haber-Weg 4, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Sigrun I Korsching
- Institute of Genetics, Mathematical-Natural Sciences Faculty of the University at Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47A, 50674, Cologne, Germany.
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