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Related Experiment Videos

Man and the chimaera. Selective versus neutral oxytocin evolution

R Acher1, J Chauvet, M T Chauvet

  • 1Université de Paris VI, Laboratoire de Chimie Biologique, France.

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
|January 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary

The oxytocin/vasopressin superfamily shows conserved structures and processing machinery across vertebrates and invertebrates. Evolutionary analysis reveals two main lineages, with vasotocin and isotocin in primitive species, culminating in vasopressin and oxytocin in mammals.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Molecular evolution
  • Comparative genomics

Background:

  • The oxytocin/vasopressin superfamily comprises conserved peptides in vertebrates and invertebrates, with an ancestral gene predating their divergence.
  • Nonapeptide patterns and processing machinery are highly conserved, indicating strong evolutionary pressure for specific conformations.
  • Two major evolutionary lineages, oxytocin-like and vasopressin-like, are traceable in most vertebrates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To trace the evolutionary history of oxytocin and vasopressin peptides and their precursors.
  • To understand the molecular mechanisms and selective pressures driving the diversification of these hormones.
  • To investigate the evolutionary pathways from primitive forms to modern mammalian oxytocin and vasopressin.

Main Methods:

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  • Comparative analysis of peptide sequences and precursor structures across diverse vertebrate and invertebrate taxa.
  • Phylogenetic reconstruction to infer evolutionary relationships and identify gene duplication events.
  • Examination of peptide variations in relation to physiological roles, such as osmoregulation.

Main Results:

  • A single peptide, vasotocin, found in primitive Cyclostomata, suggests a primordial gene duplication event leading to two lineages.
  • Isotocin and vasotocin in bony fishes evolved into mesotocin (an intermediate) and eventually oxytocin and vasopressin in placental mammals.
  • Cartilaginous fishes exhibit unique and variable oxytocin-like hormone evolution, including glumitocin, aspargtocin, and valitocin, possibly due to relaxed osmoregulatory constraints.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of oxytocin/vasopressin peptides involved gene duplication, conserved processing, and adaptive substitutions, leading to distinct lineages.
  • Mesotocin serves as a key evolutionary intermediate between isotocin and oxytocin, particularly in transitional land vertebrates.
  • Variability in cartilaginous fishes suggests that relaxed selective pressures related to osmoregulation allowed for greater hormonal diversity.