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MBE Advance Access published online on July 31, 2007
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msm157
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Letter

Largest Vertebrate Vomeronasal Type 1 Receptor (V1R) Gene Repertoire in the Semi-aquatic Platypus

Wendy E. Grus, Peng Shi1 and Jianzhi Zhang2

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
1 Present address: Department of Molecular Genetics, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrucke, Nuthetal 14558, Germany

2 Correspondence to: Jianzhi Zhang, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1075 Natural Science Building, 830 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, Phone: 734-763-0527, Fax: 734-763-0544, Email: jianzhi{at}umich.edu

Received for publication May 17, 2007. Revision received July 14, 2007. Accepted for publication July 25, 2007.

Vertebrate vomeronasal chemoreception plays important roles in many aspects of an organism's daily life, such as mating, territoriality, and foraging. V1Rs and V2Rs, two large families of G protein-coupled receptors, serve as vomeronasal receptors to bind to various pheromones and odorants. Contrary to previous observations of reduced olfaction in aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals, we here report the surprising finding that the platypus, a semi-aquatic monotreme, has the largest V1R repertoire and nearly largest combined repertoire of V1Rs and V2Rs of all vertebrates surveyed, with 270 intact genes and 579 pseudogenes in the V1R family and 15 intact genes, 55 potentially intact genes, and 57 pseudogenes in the V2R family. Phylogenetic analysis shows a remarkable expansion of the V1R repertoire and a moderate expansion of the V2R repertoire in platypus since the separation of monotremes from placentals and marsupials. Our results challenge the view that olfaction is unimportant to aquatic mammals and call for further study into the role of vomeronasal reception in platypus physiology and behavior.

Key Words: platypus • vomeronasal receptor • odorant receptor • olfaction • evolution • aquatic mammals


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