The Melanocyte‐Stimulating Hormone Receptor (Mci‐R) Gene as a Tool in Evolutionary Studies of Artiodactyles

摘要

The complete coding region of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor (MCI-R) gene was characterized in species belonging to the two families Bovidae and Cervidae; cattle (Bos tuurus), sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Cupru hircus), muskox (Ovihos moschutus), roe deer (Cupreolus capreolus), reindeer (Rungifer tarandus), moose (Alces alces), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and fallow deer (Duma duma). This well conserved gene is a central regulator of mammalian coat colour. Examination of the interspecies variability revealed a 5.3–6.8% divergence between the Cervidae and Bovidae families, whereas the divergence within the families were 1.0-3.1% and 1.2.–4.6%, respectively. Complete identity was found when two subspecies of reindeer, Eurasian tundra reindeer (R.t. tarandus) and Svalbard reindeer (R.t. phtvrhynehus), were analyzed. An rooted phylogenetic tree based on Bovidae and Cervidae MC1-R DNA sequences was in complete agreement with current taxonomy, and was supported by bootstrapping analysis. Due to different frequencies of silent vs. replacement mutations, the amino acid based phylogenetic tree contains several dissimilarities when compared to the DNA based phylogenetic tree.