English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Background  Bitter taste perception is essential for species with selective food intake, enabling them to avoid unpalatable or toxic items. Previous studies noted a marked variation in the number of  TAS2R  genes among various vertebrate species, but the underlying causes are not well understood. Laurasiatherian mammals have highly diversified dietary niche, showing repeated evolution of specialized feeding preferences in multiple lineages and offering a unique chance to investigate how various feeding niches are associated with copy number variation for bitter taste receptor genes.    Results  Here we investigated the evolutionary trajectories of  TAS2R s and their implications on bitter taste perception in whole-genome assemblies of 41 Laurasiatherian species. The number of intact  TAS2R s copies varied considerably, ranging from 0 to 52. As an extreme example of a narrow dietary niche, the Chinese pangolin possessed the lowest number of intact  TAS2R s ( n  = 2) among studied terrestrial vertebrates. Marine mammals (cetacea and pinnipedia), which swallow prey whole, presented a reduced copy number of  TAS2R s ( n  = 0-5). In contrast, independent insectivorous lineages, such as the shrew and insectivorous bats possessed a higher  TAS2R  diversity ( n  = 52 and  n  = 20-32, respectively), exceeding that in herbivores ( n  = 9-22) and omnivores ( n  = 18-22).    Conclusions  Besides herbivores, insectivores in Laurasiatheria tend to have more functional  TAS2R s in comparison to carnivores and omnivores. Furthermore, animals swallowing food whole (cetacean, pinnipedia and pangolin) have lost most functional  TAS2R s. These findings provide the most comprehensive view of the bitter taste gene repertoire in Laurasiatherian mammals to date, casting new light on the relationship between losses and gains of  TAS2R s and dietary specialization in mammals.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12983-016-0161-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Dietary specialization drives multiple independent losses and gains in the bitter taste gene repertoire of Laurasiatherian Mammals