Genetic variation in taste receptor pseudogenes provides evidence for a dynamic role in human evolution.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Human bitter taste receptors are encoded by a gene family consisting of 25 functional TAS2R loci. In addition, humans carry 11 TAS2R pseudogenes, some of which display evidence for substantial diversification among species, showing lineage-specific loss of function. Since bitter taste is thought to help prevent the intake of toxic substances, diversity at TAS2R genes could reflect the action of natural selection on the ability to recognize some bitter compounds rather than others. Whether species-specific variation in TAS2R pseudogenes is solely the result of genetic drift or whether it may have been influenced by selection due to different feeding behaviors has been an open question.

Results

In this study, we analyzed patterns of variation at human TAS2R pseudoge

SUBMITTER: Risso D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4172856 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature