PlumX Metrics
Embed PlumX Metrics

Dorsal pigmentation and its association with functional variation inmc1r in a lizard fromdifferent elevations on the qinghai-Tibetan plateau

Genome Biology and Evolution, ISSN: 1759-6653, Vol: 12, Issue: 12, Page: 2303-2313
2020
  • 13
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 13
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

Article Description

Identification of the role of the MC1R gene has provided major insights into variation in skin pigmentation in several organisms, includinghumans, but the evolutionary geneticsof this variationis lesswell established.Variation in this gene and its relationshipwith degree of melanism was analyzed in one of the world s highest-elevation lizards, Phrynocephalus theobaldi from the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau. Individuals from the low-elevation group were shown to have darker dorsal pigmentation than individuals from a high-elevation group. The existence of climatic variation across these elevations was quantified, with lower elevations exhibiting higher air pressure, temperatures, and humidity, but lesswind and insolation.Analysis of theMC1R gene in 214 individuals revealed amino aciddifferences at five sites betweenintraspecific sister lineages fromdifferent elevations,withtwosites showingdistinctfixed residues at low elevations. Three of the four single-nucleotide polymorphisms that underpinned these amino acid differences were highly significant outliers, relative to the generalizedMC1R population structuring, suggestive of selection. Transfection of cellswith an MC1R allele from a lighter high-elevation population caused a 43%reduction in agonist-induced cyclic AMP accumulation, and hence lowered melanin synthesis, relative to transfection with an allele froma darker low-elevation population. The high-elevation allele led to less efficient integration of theMC1R protein intomelanocytemembranes.Our study identifies variation in the degree of melanismthat can be explained by four or fewerMC1R substitutions.We establish a functional link between these substitutions and melanin synthesis and demonstrate elevation-Associated shifts in their frequencies.

Bibliographic Details

Yuanting Jin; Haojie Tong; Gang Shao; Jiasheng Li; Yudie Lv; Yubin Wo; Richard P Brown; Caiyun Fu; Marta Barluenga

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Medicine

Provide Feedback

Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know