Evidence of amino acid diversity-enhancing selection within humans and among primates at the candidate sperm-receptor gene PKDREJ.

ABSTRACT: Sperm-egg interaction is a crucial step in fertilization, yet the identity of most interacting sperm-egg proteins that mediate this process remains elusive. Rapid evolution of some fertilization proteins has been observed in a number of species, including evidence of positive selection in the evolution of components of the mammalian egg coat. The rapid evolution of the egg-coat proteins could strongly select for changes on the sperm receptor, to maintain the interaction. Here, we present evidence that positive selection has driven the evolution of PKDREJ, a candidate sperm receptor of mammalian egg-coat proteins. We sequenced PKDREJ from a panel of 14 primates, including humans, and conducted a comparative maximum-likelihood analysis of nucleotide changes and found evidence of positive sel

SUBMITTER: Hamm D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1950930 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature