Adaptive evolution of proteins secreted during sperm maturation: An analysis of the mouse epididymal transcriptome
Adaptive evolution of proteins secreted during sperm maturation: An analysis of the mouse epididymal transcriptome
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DOI：
10.1093/molbev/msm265
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发表时间：
2008-02-01
影响因子：
10.7
通讯作者：
Nachman, Michael W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dean, Matthem D.;Good, Jeffrey M.;Nachman, Michael W.
在分子进化中观察到的一个常见模式是生殖基因倾向于快速进化。然而，大多数之前记录这种快速进化的研究都是基于仅在少数配偶生殖器官中表达的基因。在哺乳动物中，精子只有在离开睾丸后才能活动并能够受精，在它们通过附睾的过程中。因此，附睾中表达的基因被认为在男性生育中起重要作用。在这里，我们对小鼠附睾转录组进行了进化遗传分析。总的来说，附睾表达的基因显示出强烈的进化约束的证据，这一发现与大多数以前的分析在其他男性生殖器官中表达的基因。然而，一个附睾特异性分泌基因的子集显示出适应性进化的几个特征，包括非同义进化的速率增加。此外，这个基因子集在X染色体上过度表达。免疫和蛋白质修饰功能在附睾特异性分泌基因中显著过高。这些分析确定了一组可能对男性生殖成功很重要的基因。
A common pattern observed in molecular evolution is that reproductive genes tend to evolve rapidly. However, most previous studies documenting this rapid evolution are based on genes expressed in just a few mate reproductive organs. In mammals, sperm become motile and capable of fertilization only after leaving the testis, during their transit through the epididymis. Thus, genes expressed in the epididymis are expected to play important roles in male fertility. Here, we performed evolutionary genetic analyses on the epididymal transcriptome of mice. Overall, epididymis-expressed genes showed evidence of strong evolutionary constraint, a finding that contrasts with most previous analyses of genes expressed in other male reproductive organs. However, a subset of epididymis-specialized, secreted genes showed several signatures of adaptive evolution, including an increased rate of nonsynonymous evolution. Furthermore, this subset of genes was overrepresented on the X chromosome. Immunity and protein modification functions were significantly overrepresented among epididymis-specialized, secreted genes. These analyses identified a group of genes likely to be important in male reproductive success.