Abstract
BackgroundGenomic data from various organisms have been used to study how sexual selection has shaped genetic diversity in reproductive proteins, and in particular, to elucidate how mating systems may have influenced evolution at the molecular and phenotypic levels. However, large-scale proteomic data including protein identifications and abundances are only now entering the field of evolutionary and comparative genomics. Variation in both protein sequence and expression level may play important roles in the evolution of sexual traits and behaviors.ResultsHere, we broadly analyze the components of seminal fluid from primates with diverse mating systems ranging from monogamous to polygynous, and include genomics, proteomics, phylogenetic and quantitative characters into our framework. Our analyses show that seminal fluid proteins are undergoing rapid evolution and some of these quickly evolving proteins may be influenced by sexual selection. Through evolutionary analyses and protein abundance differences, we identified 84 genes whose evolutionary rates or expression levels were correlated with mating system and other sexual characters. We found that many proteins differ in abundance between monogamous and polygynous primate mating systems. Many of these proteins are enriched in the copulatory plug pathway, which suggests that post-zygotic selective barriers are important regardless of mating system type.ConclusionsThis work is the first to comprehensively compare seminal fluid proteins between human and non-human primates using high-throughput proteomics. Our findings highlight the impact of mating system variation on seminal fluid protein evolution and abundance.
Highlights
Genomic data from various organisms have been used to study how sexual selection has shaped genetic diversity in reproductive proteins, and in particular, to elucidate how mating systems may have influenced evolution at the molecular and phenotypic levels
With a combination of comparative evolutionary genomics, proteomics, and phylogenetics, we studied the evolution of Seminal fluid proteins (SFP) in human and non-human primates
We further assessed the relationship between rapid evolutionary rates and high protein abundance in our candidate genes, and these results indicate that the protein abundances of the candidate SFPs were elevated within humans, and could play an important role in reproduction
Summary
Genomic data from various organisms have been used to study how sexual selection has shaped genetic diversity in reproductive proteins, and in particular, to elucidate how mating systems may have influenced evolution at the molecular and phenotypic levels. Large-scale proteomic data including protein identifications and abundances are only entering the field of evolutionary and comparative genomics. Variation in both protein sequence and expression level may play important roles in the evolution of sexual traits and behaviors. While only some genes may show associations between mating system and rates of molecular evolution, variation in protein abundance between species suggests that regulatory changes are under sexual selection. Identifying genes influenced by sexual selection is crucial to elucidating the molecular mechanisms at work
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