- 著者
- Min HOU Masahiro HAYASHI Ryuichi ASHINO Amanda D. MELIN Shoji KAWAMURA
- 出版者
- Primate Society of Japan
- 雑誌
- 霊長類研究 Supplement
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.32-33, 2020 (Released:2021-04-23)
Taste perception is fundamental in dietary selection for many animals. Bitter taste perception is important not only in dietary selection but also in preventing animals from ingesting potentially toxic compounds. Previous studies have revealed evolutionary divergence of the bitter taste receptor gene (TAS2R) repertoire in mammals, including primates, using publicly available whole genome sequence (WGS) data. Plant tissues contain more toxic compounds than animal tissues do. Herbivores could have less TAS2R genes because they are predicted to be more tolerant and less sensitive to bitter compounds to ingest poisons. On the other hand, herbivores could have more TAS2R genes because they are predicted to be in need of selecting and ingesting bitter plants which other animals avoid. Cercopithecid (African and Asian) monkeys are an excellent subject for studying adaptive evolution of bitter sensation because they have diverged into folivores (colobines) and omnivores (cercopithecines). However, only a few genera have been studied in this context. Dependence on WGS data is also potentially problematic due to its inherent incompleteness especially for multigene families such as TAS2Rs. In this study, we employed the target capture (TC) method specifically probing TAS2Rs followed by massive-parallel sequencing for nine cercopithecid species (seven cercopithecines: two Papio, two Macaca, one each of Cercopithecus, Chlorocebus and Erythrocebus species; two colobines: one each of Semnopithecus and Colobus species). We show that TC is far more effective than WGS in retrieving gene sequence and distinguishing intact and disrupted genes. We also find bitter taste gene composition differs among the species. Further studies are required to investigate whether difference of gene composition result in difference of receptor sensitivity and behavioral reactivity to bitter compounds.