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2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Analysis of the genome evolution by gene duplication using olfactory receptor gene families

Research Project

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Project/Area Number 23770271
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Research Field Evolutionary biology
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo (2013-2015)
Tokyo Medical and Dental University (2011-2012)

Principal Investigator

Niimura Yoshihito  東京大学, 農学生命科学研究科, 特任准教授 (90396979)

Project Period (FY) 2011-04-28 – 2016-03-31
Keywords嗅覚受容体 / 化学感覚 / 遺伝子ファミリー / 比較ゲノム / 分子進化 / 哺乳類の進化
Outline of Final Research Achievements

Olfaction is essential for the survival of many animals. The ability to distinguish different odors depends on the number and type of olfactory receptors (ORs) present in each organism’s genome. In this project, we examined the OR genes encoded in 13 mammalian species’ genomes and found that African elephants have a surprisingly large number of OR genes, with approximately 2,000. This number is by far the largest among ever characterized. We also invented a novel bioinformatic method to trace the evolutionary trajectories of individual OR genes, and examined their duplications and losses in each species. We then discovered three OR genes that are evolutionarily stable for 100 million years without any duplications and losses and with very little change in sequence. Suggestively, these receptors would have physiologically important functions common to every mammal beyond the detection of odors.

Free Research Field

分子進化、比較ゲノム、嗅覚

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Published: 2017-05-10  

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