Dataset Information

The Macroecology of Chemical Communication in Lizards: Do Climatic Factors Drive the Evolution of Signalling Glands?

ABSTRACT: Chemical communication plays a pivotal role in shaping sexual and ecological interactions among animals. In lizards, fundamental mechanisms of sexual selection such as female mate choice have rarely been shown to be influenced by quantitative phenotypic traits (e.g., ornaments), while chemical signals have been found to potentially influence multiple forms of sexual and social interactions, including mate choice and territoriality. Chemical signals in lizards are secreted by glands primarily located on the edge of the cloacae (precloacal glands, PG) and thighs (femoral glands), and whose interspecific and interclade number ranges from 0 to >?100. However, elucidating the factors underlying the evolution of such remarkable variation remains an elusive endeavour. Competing hypotheses suggest a dominant role for phylogenetic conservatism (i.e., species within clades share similar numbers of glands) or for natural selection (i.e., their adaptive diversification results in deviating numbers of glands from ancestors). Using the prolific Liolaemus lizard radiation from South America (where PG vary from 0 to 14), we present one of the largest-scale tests of both hypotheses to date. Based on climatic and phylogenetic modelling, we show a clear role for both phylogenetic inertia and adaptation underlying gland variation: (i) solar radiation, net primary productivity, topographic heterogeneity and precipitation range have a significant effect on PG variation, (ii) humid and cold environments tend to concentrate species with a higher number of glands, (iii) there is a strong phylogenetic signal that tends to conserve the number of PG within clades. Collectively, our study confirms that the inertia of niche conservatism can be broken down by the need of species facing different selection regimes to adjust their glands to suit the demands of their specific environments.

SUBMITTER: Jara M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6096677 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Macroecology of Chemical Communication in Lizards: Do Climatic Factors Drive the Evolution of Signalling Glands?

Jara Manuel M Frias-De-Diego Alba A García-Roa Roberto R Saldarriaga-Córdoba Mónica M Harvey Lilly P LP Hickcox Rachel P RP Pincheira-Donoso Daniel D

Evolutionary biology 20180310 3

Chemical communication plays a pivotal role in shaping sexual and ecological interactions among animals. In lizards, fundamental mechanisms of sexual selection such as female mate choice have rarely been shown to be influenced by quantitative phenotypic traits (e.g., ornaments), while chemical signals have been found to potentially influence multiple forms of sexual and social interactions, including mate choice and territoriality. Chemical signals in lizards are secreted by glands primarily loc ...[more]

PMID: 30147195

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Project description:The Antarctic coastal fauna is characterized by high endemism related to the progressive cooling of Antarctic waters and their isolation by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The origin of the Antarctic coastal fauna could involve either colonization from adjoining deep-sea areas or migration through the Drake Passage from sub-Antarctic areas. Here, we tested these hypotheses by comparing the morphology and genetics of benthic foraminifera collected from Antarctica, sub-Antarctic coastal settings in South Georgia, the Falkland Islands and Patagonian fjords. We analyzed four genera (Cassidulina, Globocassidulina, Cassidulinoides, Ehrenbergina) of the family Cassidulinidae that are represented by at least nine species in our samples. Focusing on the genera Globocassidulina and Cassidulinoides, our results showed that the first split between sub-Antarctic and Antarctic lineages took place during the mid-Miocene climate reorganization, probably about 20 to 17 million years ago (Ma). It was followed by a divergence between Antarctic species ~ 10 Ma, probably related to the cooling of deep water and vertical structuring of the water-column, as well as broadening and deepening of the continental shelf. The gene flow across the Drake Passage, as well as between South America and South Georgia, seems to have occurred from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene. It appears that climate warming during 7-5 Ma and the migration of the Polar Front breached biogeographic barriers and facilitated inter-species hybridization. The latest radiation coincided with glacial intensification (~ 2 Ma), which accelerated geographic fragmentation of populations, demographic changes, and genetic diversification in Antarctic species. Our results show that the evolution of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic coastal benthic foraminifera was linked to the tectonic and climatic history of the area, but their evolutionary response was not uniform and reflected species-specific ecological adaptations that influenced the dispersal patterns and biogeography of each species in different ways.

Project description:BackgroundChemical communication is an important aspect of the behavioural ecology of a wide range of mammals. In dogs and other carnivores, anal sac glands are thought to convey information to conspecifics by secreting a pallet of small volatile molecules produced by symbiotic bacteria. Because these glands are unique to carnivores, it is unclear how their secretions relate to those of other placental mammals that make use of different tissues and secretions for chemical communication. Here we analyse the anal sac glands of domestic dogs to verify the secretion of proteins and infer their evolutionary relationship to those involved in the chemical communication of non-carnivoran mammals.ResultsProteomic analysis of anal sac gland secretions of 17 dogs revealed the consistently abundant presence of three related proteins. Homology searches against online databases indicate that these proteins are evolutionary related to 'odorant binding proteins' (OBPs) found in a wide range of mammalian secretions and known to contribute to chemical communication. Screening of the dog's genome sequence show that the newly discovered OBPs are encoded by a single cluster of three genes in the pseudoautosomal region of the X-chromosome. Comparative genomic screening indicates that the same locus is shared by a wide range of placental mammals and that it originated at least before the radiation of extant placental orders. Phylogenetic analyses suggest a dynamic evolution of gene duplication and loss, resulting in large gene clusters in some placental taxa and recurrent loss of this locus in others. The homology of OBPs in canid anal sac glands and those found in other mammalian secretions implies that these proteins maintained a function in chemical communication throughout mammalian evolutionary history by multiple shifts in expression between secretory tissues involved in signal release and nasal mucosa involved in signal reception.ConclusionsOur study elucidates a poorly understood part of the biology of a species that lives in close association with humans. In addition, it shows that the protein repertoire underlying chemical communication in mammals is more evolutionarily stable than the variation of involved glands and tissues would suggest.

Dataset Information

The Macroecology of Chemical Communication in Lizards: Do Climatic Factors Drive the Evolution of Signalling Glands?

Publications

The Macroecology of Chemical Communication in Lizards: Do Climatic Factors Drive the Evolution of Signalling Glands?

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