Cytochrome P450 2B diversity and dietary novelty in the herbivorous, desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida).

ABSTRACT: Detoxification enzymes play a key role in plant-herbivore interactions, contributing to the on-going evolution of ecosystem functional diversity. Mammalian detoxification systems have been well studied by the medical and pharmacological industries to understand human drug metabolism; however, little is known of the mechanisms employed by wild herbivores to metabolize toxic plant secondary compounds. Using a wild rodent herbivore, the desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida), we investigated genomic structural variation, sequence variability, and expression patterns in a multigene subfamily involved in xenobiotic metabolism, cytochrome P450 2B (CYP2B). We hypothesized that differences in CYP2B expression and sequence diversity could explain differential abilities of woodrat populations to consume na

SUBMITTER: Malenke JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3425548 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature