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Olfactory receptor gene family evolution in stickleback and medaka fishes

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Abstract

Interaction of olfactory receptor (OR) genes with environmental odors is regarded as the first step of olfaction. In this study, OR genes of two fish, medaka (Oryzias latipes) and stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), were identified and an evolutional analysis was conducted. The selection pressure of different TM regions and complete coding region were compared. Three TM regions (TM4, TM5 and TM6) were found to have higher average Ka/Ks values, which might be partly caused by positive selection as suggested by subsequent positive selection analysis. Further analysis showed that many PTSs overlap, or are adjacent to previously deduced binding sites in mammals. These results support the hypothesis that binding sites of fish OR genes may evolved under positive selection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Fish Phylogenetics and Biogeography, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Ming Chen, ZuoGang Peng & ShunPing He

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Ming Chen

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  1. Ming Chen
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  2. ZuoGang Peng
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Correspondence to ShunPing He.

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Chen, M., Peng, Z. & He, S. Olfactory receptor gene family evolution in stickleback and medaka fishes. Sci. China Life Sci. 53, 257–266 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-010-0025-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-010-0025-4

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