美国卡内基梅隆大学Andreas R. Pfenning和加州大学Michael M. Yartsev课题组合作在研究中取得进展。他们发现哺乳动物中与声乐学习相关的蛋白质和调节元件之间存在趋同进化。该研究于2024年2月29日发表于国际学术期刊《科学》。
为了确定与哺乳动物发声学习相关的大脑基因组元件，研究人员将埃及果蝠的基因组、解剖学和神经生理学数据，与215种胎盘哺乳动物的基因组分析相结合。首先，研究确定了一组在发声学习者中进化较慢的蛋白质。然后，在埃及果蝠这种新出现的发声学习者身上，研究人员发现了一个与发声运动有关的皮层区域，并利用这一知识确定了发声学习者运动皮层中活跃的顺式调控元件。
运动皮层开放染色质机器学习方法揭示了50个与发声学习密切相关的增强子，这些增强子的活性在发声学习者中往往较低。该研究表明，在哺乳动物发声学习进化过程中，运动皮层调控元件会出现趋同性损失。
研究人员表示，发声学习是脊椎动物共同的进化特征。
附：英文原文
Title: Vocal learning-associated convergent evolution in mammalian proteins and regulatory elements
Author: Morgan E. Wirthlin, Tobias A. Schmid, Julie E. Elie, Xiaomeng Zhang, Amanda Kowalczyk, Ruby Redlich, Varvara A. Shvareva, Ashley Rakuljic, Maria B. Ji, Ninad S. Bhat, Irene M. Kaplow, Daniel E. Schffer, Alyssa J. Lawler, Andrew Z. Wang, BaDoi N. Phan, Siddharth Annaldasula, Ashley R. Brown, Tianyu Lu, Byung Kook Lim, Eiman Azim, Zoonomia Consortium**, Nathan L. Clark, Wynn K. Meyer, Sergei L Kosakovsky Pond, Maria Chikina, Michael M. Yartsev, Andreas R. Pfenning, Gregory Andrews, Joel C. Armstrong, Matteo Bianchi, Bruce W. Birren, Kevin R. Bredemeyer, Ana M. Breit, Matthew J. Christmas, Hiram Clawson, Joana Damas, Federica Di Palma, Mark Diekhans, Michael X. Dong, Eduardo Eizirik, Kaili Fan, Cornelia Fanter, Nicole M. Foley, Karin Forsberg-Nilsson, Carlos J. Garcia, John Gatesy, Steven Gazal, Diane P. Genereux, Linda Goodman, Jenna Grimshaw, Michaela K. Halsey, Andrew J. Harris, Glenn Hickey, Michael Hiller, Allyson G. Hindle, Robert M. Hubley, Graham M. Hughes, Jeremy Johnson, David Juan, Irene M. Kaplow, Elinor K. Karlsson, Kathleen C. Keough, Bogdan Kirilenko, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Jennifer M. Korstian, Amanda Kowalczyk, Sergey V. Kozyrev, Alyssa J. Lawler, Colleen Lawless, Thomas Lehmann, Danielle L. Levesque, Harris A. Lewin, Xue Li, Abigail Lind, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Ava Mackay-Smith, Voichita D. Marinescu, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Victor C. Mason, Jennifer R. S. Meadows, Wynn K. Meyer, Jill E. Moore, Lucas R. Moreira, Diana D. Moreno-Santillan, Kathleen M. Morrill, Gerard Muntané, William J. Murphy, Arcadi Navarro, Martin Nweeia, Sylvia Ortmann, Austin Osmanski, Benedict Paten, Nicole S. Paulat, Andreas R. Pfenning, BaDoi N. Phan, Katherine S. Pollard, Henry E. Pratt, David A. Ray, Steven K. Reilly, Jeb R. Rosen, Irina Ruf, Louise Ryan, Oliver A. Ryder, Pardis C. Sabeti, Daniel E. Schffer, Aitor Serres, Beth Shapiro, Arian F. A. Smit, Mark Springer, Chaitanya Srinivasan, Cynthia Steiner, Jessica M. Storer, Kevin A. M. Sullivan, Patrick F. Sullivan, Elisabeth Sundstrm, Megan A. Supple, Ross Swofford, Joy-El Talbot, Emma Teeling, Jason Turner-Maier, Alejandro Valenzuela, Franziska Wagner, Ola Wallerman, Chao Wang, Juehan Wang, Zhiping Weng, Aryn P. Wilder, Morgan E. Wirthlin, James R. Xue, Xiaomeng Zhang
Issue&Volume: 2024-02-29
Abstract: Vocal production learning is a convergently evolved trait in vertebrates. To identify brain genomic elements associated with mammalian vocal learning, we integrated genomic, anatomical and neurophysiological data from the Egyptian fruit-bat with analyses of the genomes of 215 placental mammals. First, we identified a set of proteins evolving more slowly in vocal learners. Then, we discovered a vocal-motor cortical region in the Egyptian fruit-bat, an emergent vocal learner, and leveraged that knowledge to identify active cis-regulatory elements in the motor cortex of vocal learners. Machine learning methods applied to motor cortex open chromatin revealed 50 enhancers robustly associated with vocal learning whose activity tended to be lower in vocal learners. Our research implicates convergent losses of motor cortex regulatory elements in mammalian vocal learning evolution.
DOI: abn3263
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn3263