Patterns of enrichment and acceleration in evolutionary rates of promoters suggest a role of regulatory regions in cetacean gigantism

BMC Ecology and Evolution

Research

Felipe A. Silva¹  Mariana F. Nery¹  Agnello C. R. Picorelli¹  Giovanna S. Veiga¹ 

[1] Dept of Genetics, Evolution, Microbiology & Immunology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Rua Monteiro Lobato, 255, 13083-862, Campinas, SP, Brazil;

关键词: Cetaceans;    Gigantism;    Molecular evolution;    Regulatory regions;    Promoter;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-023-02171-5

 received in 2023-02-10, accepted in 2023-10-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCetaceans (whales, porpoises, and dolphins) are a lineage of aquatic mammals from which some species became giants. Only recently, gigantism has been investigated from the molecular point of view. Studies focused mainly on coding regions, and no data on the influence of regulatory regions on gigantism in this group was available. Accordingly, we investigated the molecular evolution of non-coding regulatory regions of genes already described in the literature for association with size in mammals, focusing mainly on the promoter regions. For this, we used Ciiider and phyloP tools. Ciiider identifies significantly enriched transcription factor binding sites, and phyloP estimates the molecular evolution rate of the promoter.ResultsWe found evidence of enrichment of transcription binding factors related to large body size, with distinct patterns between giant and non-giant cetaceans in the IGFBP7 and NCAPG promoters, in which repressive agents are present in small cetaceans and those that stimulate transcription, in giant cetaceans. In addition, we found evidence of acceleration in the IGF2, IGFBP2, IGFBP7, and ZFAT promoters.ConclusionOur results indicate that regulatory regions may also influence cetaceans’ body size, providing candidate genes for future research to understand the molecular basis of the largest living animals.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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