Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals.
The molecular evolution of the mammalian heater protein UCP1 is a powerful biomarker to understand thermoregulatory strategies during species radiation into extreme climates, such as aquatic life with high thermal conductivity. While fully aquatic mammals lost UCP1, most semi-aquatic seals display i...
Published in: | Molecular Biology and Evolution |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Silverchair Information Systems
2024
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae075 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38606905 |
id |
ftpubmed:38606905 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:38606905 2024-05-12T08:03:08+00:00 Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals. Gaudry, Michael J Khudyakov, Jane Pirard, Laura Debier, Cathy Crocker, Daniel Crichton, Paul G Jastroch, Martin 2024 Apr 12 https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae075 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38606905 eng eng Silverchair Information Systems https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae075 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38606905 © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Mol Biol Evol ISSN:1537-1719 Journal Article 2024 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae075 2024-04-12T16:03:00Z The molecular evolution of the mammalian heater protein UCP1 is a powerful biomarker to understand thermoregulatory strategies during species radiation into extreme climates, such as aquatic life with high thermal conductivity. While fully aquatic mammals lost UCP1, most semi-aquatic seals display intact UCP1 genes, apart from large elephant seals. Here, we show that UCP1 thermogenic activity of the small-bodied harbor seal is equally potent compared to terrestrial orthologues, emphasizing its importance for neonatal survival on land. In contrast, elephant seal UCP1 does not display thermogenic activity, not even when translating a repaired or a recently highlighted truncated version. Thus, the thermogenic benefits for neonatal survival during terrestrial birth in semi-aquatic pinnipeds maintained evolutionary selection pressure on UCP1 function, and were only outweighed by extreme body sizes among elephant seals, fully eliminating UCP1-dependent thermogenesis. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Elephant Seals harbor seal PubMed Central (PMC) Molecular Biology and Evolution 41 4 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
description |
The molecular evolution of the mammalian heater protein UCP1 is a powerful biomarker to understand thermoregulatory strategies during species radiation into extreme climates, such as aquatic life with high thermal conductivity. While fully aquatic mammals lost UCP1, most semi-aquatic seals display intact UCP1 genes, apart from large elephant seals. Here, we show that UCP1 thermogenic activity of the small-bodied harbor seal is equally potent compared to terrestrial orthologues, emphasizing its importance for neonatal survival on land. In contrast, elephant seal UCP1 does not display thermogenic activity, not even when translating a repaired or a recently highlighted truncated version. Thus, the thermogenic benefits for neonatal survival during terrestrial birth in semi-aquatic pinnipeds maintained evolutionary selection pressure on UCP1 function, and were only outweighed by extreme body sizes among elephant seals, fully eliminating UCP1-dependent thermogenesis. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gaudry, Michael J Khudyakov, Jane Pirard, Laura Debier, Cathy Crocker, Daniel Crichton, Paul G Jastroch, Martin |
spellingShingle |
Gaudry, Michael J Khudyakov, Jane Pirard, Laura Debier, Cathy Crocker, Daniel Crichton, Paul G Jastroch, Martin Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals. |
author_facet |
Gaudry, Michael J Khudyakov, Jane Pirard, Laura Debier, Cathy Crocker, Daniel Crichton, Paul G Jastroch, Martin |
author_sort |
Gaudry, Michael J |
title |
Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals. |
title_short |
Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals. |
title_full |
Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals. |
title_fullStr |
Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals. |
title_sort |
terrestrial birth and body size tune ucp1 functionality in seals. |
publisher |
Silverchair Information Systems |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae075 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38606905 |
genre |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals harbor seal |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals harbor seal |
op_source |
Mol Biol Evol ISSN:1537-1719 |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae075 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38606905 |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae075 |
container_title |
Molecular Biology and Evolution |
container_volume |
41 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1798845244375040000 |