Birds Generally Carry a Small Repertoire of Bitter Taste Receptor Genes

Genome Biology and Evolution
Kai Wang, Huabin Zhao

Abstract

As they belong to the most species-rich class of tetrapod vertebrates, birds have long been believed to possess an inferior taste system. However, the bitter taste is fundamental in birds to recognize dietary toxins (which are typically bitter) in potential food sources. To characterize the evolution of avian bitter taste receptor genes (Tas2rs) and to test whether dietary toxins have shaped the repertoire size of avian Tas2rs, we examined 48 genomes representing all but 3 avian orders. The total number of Tas2r genes was found to range from 1 in the domestic pigeon to 12 in the bar-tailed trogon, with an average of 4, which suggested that a much smaller Tas2r gene repertoire exists in birds than in other vertebrates. Furthermore, we uncovered a positive correlation between the number of putatively functional Tas2rs and the abundance of potential toxins in avian diets. Because plant products contain more toxins than animal tissues and insects release poisonous defensive secretions, we hypothesized that herbivorous and insectivorous birds may demand more functional Tas2rs than carnivorous birds feeding on noninsect animals. Our analyses appear to support this hypothesis and highlight the critical role of taste perception in birds.

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Citations

May 18, 2017·Molecules : a Journal of Synthetic Chemistry and Natural Product Chemistry·Shira Cheled-ShovalMasha Y Niv
Dec 14, 2017·Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences·Marco Antinucci, Davide Risso
Jun 12, 2018·Nutrition Research Reviews·Shahram Niknafs, Eugeni Roura
May 9, 2019·Chemical Senses·Yi WangPeihua Jiang
Jul 17, 2019·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Hengwu JiaoHuabin Zhao
Sep 26, 2019·Biology Letters·Yi WangHuabin Zhao
Nov 9, 2019·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Bing-Jun WangHuabin Zhao
Sep 1, 2019·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Hengwu JiaoHuabin Zhao
Dec 7, 2018·Ecology and Evolution·Ping Feng, Zhijun Liu
Apr 19, 2017·Amino Acids·Shuai ShangHonghai Zhang
Nov 23, 2017·Annual Review of Animal Biosciences·Eugeni Roura, Simon R Foster
Jul 28, 2019·Ecology and Evolution·Shamshidin AbduriyimHuabin Zhao
May 16, 2019·PeerJ·Yan-Hong Chen, Huabin Zhao
Jan 23, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Hengwu JiaoHuabin Zhao
Jul 10, 2021·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Hengwu JiaoHuabin Zhao

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
JRXG00000000

Software Mentioned

BLASTN
MUSCLE
NOTUNG
MrBayes
MEGA6
GENECONV
TBLASTN

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