Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level.
A fundamental question in evolutionary genetics concerns the extent to which adaptive phenotypic convergence is attributable to convergent or parallel changes at the molecular sequence level. Here we report a comparative analysis of hemoglobin (Hb) function in eight phylogenetically replicated pairs...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-12-01
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| Series: | PLoS Genetics |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4670201?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818027774759141376 |
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| author | Chandrasekhar Natarajan Joana Projecto-Garcia Hideaki Moriyama Roy E Weber Violeta Muñoz-Fuentes Andy J Green Cecilia Kopuchian Pablo L Tubaro Luis Alza Mariana Bulgarella Matthew M Smith Robert E Wilson Angela Fago Kevin G McCracken Jay F Storz |
| author_facet | Chandrasekhar Natarajan Joana Projecto-Garcia Hideaki Moriyama Roy E Weber Violeta Muñoz-Fuentes Andy J Green Cecilia Kopuchian Pablo L Tubaro Luis Alza Mariana Bulgarella Matthew M Smith Robert E Wilson Angela Fago Kevin G McCracken Jay F Storz |
| author_sort | Chandrasekhar Natarajan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A fundamental question in evolutionary genetics concerns the extent to which adaptive phenotypic convergence is attributable to convergent or parallel changes at the molecular sequence level. Here we report a comparative analysis of hemoglobin (Hb) function in eight phylogenetically replicated pairs of high- and low-altitude waterfowl taxa to test for convergence in the oxygenation properties of Hb, and to assess the extent to which convergence in biochemical phenotype is attributable to repeated amino acid replacements. Functional experiments on native Hb variants and protein engineering experiments based on site-directed mutagenesis revealed the phenotypic effects of specific amino acid replacements that were responsible for convergent increases in Hb-O2 affinity in multiple high-altitude taxa. In six of the eight taxon pairs, high-altitude taxa evolved derived increases in Hb-O2 affinity that were caused by a combination of unique replacements, parallel replacements (involving identical-by-state variants with independent mutational origins in different lineages), and collateral replacements (involving shared, identical-by-descent variants derived via introgressive hybridization). In genome scans of nucleotide differentiation involving high- and low-altitude populations of three separate species, function-altering amino acid polymorphisms in the globin genes emerged as highly significant outliers, providing independent evidence for adaptive divergence in Hb function. The experimental results demonstrate that convergent changes in protein function can occur through multiple historical paths, and can involve multiple possible mutations. Most cases of convergence in Hb function did not involve parallel substitutions and most parallel substitutions did not affect Hb-O2 affinity, indicating that the repeatability of phenotypic evolution does not require parallelism at the molecular level. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T04:53:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-225fc97dd12347ebae03dff66c3a5aa7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1553-7390 1553-7404 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T04:53:15Z |
| publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Genetics |
| spelling | doaj.art-225fc97dd12347ebae03dff66c3a5aa72022-12-22T02:01:34ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Genetics1553-73901553-74042015-12-011112e100568110.1371/journal.pgen.1005681Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level.Chandrasekhar NatarajanJoana Projecto-GarciaHideaki MoriyamaRoy E WeberVioleta Muñoz-FuentesAndy J GreenCecilia KopuchianPablo L TubaroLuis AlzaMariana BulgarellaMatthew M SmithRobert E WilsonAngela FagoKevin G McCrackenJay F StorzA fundamental question in evolutionary genetics concerns the extent to which adaptive phenotypic convergence is attributable to convergent or parallel changes at the molecular sequence level. Here we report a comparative analysis of hemoglobin (Hb) function in eight phylogenetically replicated pairs of high- and low-altitude waterfowl taxa to test for convergence in the oxygenation properties of Hb, and to assess the extent to which convergence in biochemical phenotype is attributable to repeated amino acid replacements. Functional experiments on native Hb variants and protein engineering experiments based on site-directed mutagenesis revealed the phenotypic effects of specific amino acid replacements that were responsible for convergent increases in Hb-O2 affinity in multiple high-altitude taxa. In six of the eight taxon pairs, high-altitude taxa evolved derived increases in Hb-O2 affinity that were caused by a combination of unique replacements, parallel replacements (involving identical-by-state variants with independent mutational origins in different lineages), and collateral replacements (involving shared, identical-by-descent variants derived via introgressive hybridization). In genome scans of nucleotide differentiation involving high- and low-altitude populations of three separate species, function-altering amino acid polymorphisms in the globin genes emerged as highly significant outliers, providing independent evidence for adaptive divergence in Hb function. The experimental results demonstrate that convergent changes in protein function can occur through multiple historical paths, and can involve multiple possible mutations. Most cases of convergence in Hb function did not involve parallel substitutions and most parallel substitutions did not affect Hb-O2 affinity, indicating that the repeatability of phenotypic evolution does not require parallelism at the molecular level.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4670201?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Chandrasekhar Natarajan Joana Projecto-Garcia Hideaki Moriyama Roy E Weber Violeta Muñoz-Fuentes Andy J Green Cecilia Kopuchian Pablo L Tubaro Luis Alza Mariana Bulgarella Matthew M Smith Robert E Wilson Angela Fago Kevin G McCracken Jay F Storz Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level. PLoS Genetics |
| title | Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level. |
| title_full | Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level. |
| title_fullStr | Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level. |
| title_short | Convergent Evolution of Hemoglobin Function in High-Altitude Andean Waterfowl Involves Limited Parallelism at the Molecular Sequence Level. |
| title_sort | convergent evolution of hemoglobin function in high altitude andean waterfowl involves limited parallelism at the molecular sequence level |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4670201?pdf=render |
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