Tuesday, February 12, 2013

"Dynamic functional evolution of an odorant receptor for sex-steroid-derived odors in primates"

Hi all,

As we talked about two weeks ago, sensory elements account for most of the genetic differences between humans and the other primates.  One example of this is the OR7D4 gene, which is an odorant receptor for androstenone and androstadienone and produces physiological changes in humans.  This test was performed to see the effects in sensitivity of the OR7D4 gene in various species because little is known about the functional changes of individual odorant receptors during evolution.  What they found was a huge range of functions and responses for each primate.  However, it is not clear whether most of these changes are actually adaptive or not.

Link: http://www.pnas.org/content/106/50/21247.full?sid=a85e02fd-6bc5-4bc1-9bd1-5056b2f52d16

Michael Cruciger

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