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Evolution of the ABPA Subunit of Androgen-Binding Protein Expressed in the Submaxillary Glands in New and Old World Rodent Taxa

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Abstract

The salivary androgen-binding proteins (ABPs) are members of the secretoglobin gene family present in mammals. Each ABP is a heterodimer assembled as an ABPA subunit encoded by an Abpa gene and linked by disulfide bridges to an ABPBG subunit encoded by an Abpbg gene. The ABP dimers are secreted into the saliva of mice and then transferred to the pelage after grooming and subsequently to the environment allowing an animal to mark territory with a biochemical signal. The putative role of the mouse salivary ABPs is that of pheromones mediating mate selection resulting in assortative mating in the Mus musculus species complex. We focused on comparing patterns of molecular evolution between the Abpa genes expressed in the submaxillary glands of species of New World and Old World muroids. We found that in both sets of rodents the Abpa genes expressed in the submaxillary glands appear to be evolving under a similar evolutionary regime, with relatively high nonsynonymous substitution rates, suggesting that ABP might play a similar biological role in both systems. Thus, ABP could be involved with mate recognition and species isolation in New World as well as Old World muroids.

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Acknowledgments

We thank R. Baker, R. Chesser, B. Rodgers, M. Bondarkov, and S. Gaschak for access to collecting sites in northern Ukraine as part of another research project. We also want to thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions greatly improved the quality of this manuscript. All field and laboratory studies were conducted with appropriate permits and approved institutional protocols and in accord with the NIH Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Research was partially funded by Texas Tech University funding to CJP and directed funding for the DOE (C. J. Phillips, R. Chesser, R. Baker, co-PIs). FGH acknowledges Grant support from the National Science Foundation (EPS-0903787).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, P. O. Box 9655, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Michael W. Vandewege & Federico G. Hoffmann

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA

    Carleton J. Phillips

  3. Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Jeffrey K. Wickliffe

  4. Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Federico G. Hoffmann

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  1. Michael W. Vandewege
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  2. Carleton J. Phillips
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  3. Jeffrey K. Wickliffe
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  4. Federico G. Hoffmann
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Correspondence to Federico G. Hoffmann.

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Vandewege, M.W., Phillips, C.J., Wickliffe, J.K. et al. Evolution of the ABPA Subunit of Androgen-Binding Protein Expressed in the Submaxillary Glands in New and Old World Rodent Taxa. J Mol Evol 76, 324–331 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-013-9561-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-013-9561-4

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