通過位于犁鼻器中的信息素一型受體，哺乳動物可以感受來自物種內(nèi)其他個體所傳遞的信息,，從而引起種內(nèi)不同成員之間社會和性的行為,。信息素一型受體由V1R基因超家族編碼的。過去幾年中,，張亞平研究組和施鵬研究組通過進(jìn)化基因組學(xué)的方法對該基因超家族進(jìn)行了系統(tǒng)地研究,，發(fā)現(xiàn)了信息素受體基因家族是迄今為止哺乳動物基因家族基因數(shù)目差異倍數(shù)最大的基因家族；并提出動物適應(yīng)環(huán)境可以反映在基因數(shù)目變異上的假說,。
為了進(jìn)一步探討V1R基因家族的進(jìn)化與動物環(huán)境和行為的關(guān)系,，這兩個研究組再度攜手，通過整合微觀的基因組數(shù)據(jù)和宏觀的動物行為數(shù)據(jù),，對處于不同生態(tài)環(huán)境下及具有不同行為的哺乳動物V1R基因家族進(jìn)行研究,。第一作者王國棟博士等詳細(xì)分析了32種陸生哺乳動物的V1R基因家族大小和兩種環(huán)境因子：活動空間（Spatial Activity）和生物節(jié)律（Rhythm Activity）之間的關(guān)系,。其中活動空間包括包括穴居行為（Nest-living Behavior）和開放居住行為（Open-living Behavior），生物節(jié)律包括夜行行為（Nocturnal）和晝行行為（Diurnal）,。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)這兩個環(huán)境因子與V1R基因家族大小有顯著的相關(guān)性：1）與開放居住的哺乳動物相比,，穴居哺乳動物擁有更多的V1R基因；2）與晝行哺乳動物相比,，夜行哺乳動物擁有更多的V1R基因,。進(jìn)一步的分子進(jìn)化分析表明，在夜行和穴居哺乳動物的V1R基因中發(fā)生的快速基因產(chǎn)生（Rapid Gene Birth）和氨基酸替代加速很可能是對夜行和狹窄環(huán)境的適應(yīng),。信息素受體V1R基因家族的大小是一個很好的研究環(huán)境與動物基因組,，特別是環(huán)境因子和感覺系統(tǒng)分子進(jìn)化歷史的指示器，值得進(jìn)一步深入的研究,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Genome Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/gbe/evq020
More functional V1R genes occur in nest-living and nocturnal terricolous mammals
Guodong Wang1, Peng Shi1,#, Zhouhai Zhu2 and Ya-ping Zhang1,2,#
1 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
2 Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-resources, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
Size of the V1R gene repertoire may be a good indicator for examining the relationship between animal genomes and their environmental niche specialization, especially the relationship between ecological factors and the molecular evolutionary history of the sensory system. Recently, Young et al. (2009) concluded that no single ecological factor could explain the extreme variability of the V1R gene repertoire in mammalian genomes. In contrast, we found a significant positive correlation between the size and percentage of intact V1R genes in 32 species that represent the phylogenetic diversity of terricolous mammals and two ecological factors: spatial activity and rhythm activity. Nest-living species possessed a greater number of intact V1R genes than open-living species, and nocturnal terricolous mammals tended to possess more intact V1R genes than did diurnal species. Moreover, our analysis reveals that the evolutionary mechanisms underlying these observations likely resulted from the rapid gene birth and accelerated amino acid substitutions in nest-living and nocturnal mammals, likely a functional requirement for exploiting narrow, dark environments. Taken together, these results reveal how adaptation to divergent circadian rhythms and spatial activity were manifested at the genomic scale. Size of the V1R gene family might have indicated how this gene family adapts to ecological factors.
