Variation and Selection in the Putative Sperm-Binding Region of ZP3 in Muroid Rodents: A Comparison between Cricetids and Murines

• Autor(a) principal: Duarte, Margarida Alexandra
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Fernandes, C, Heckel, Gerald, da Luz Mathias, Maria, Bastos-Silveira, Cristiane
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/49666
• topic: zona pellucida glycoprotein 3; sperm receptor; female fertilization protein; positive selection; Cricetidae; Murinae

In mammals, the zona pellucida glycoprotein 3 (ZP3) is considered a primary sperm receptor of the oocyte and is hypothesized to be involved in reproductive isolation. We investigated patterns of diversity and selection in the putative sperm-binding region (pSBR) of mouse ZP3 across Cricetidae and Murinae, two hyperdiverse taxonomic groups within muroid rodents. In murines, the pSBR is fairly conserved, in particular the serine-rich stretch containing the glycosylation sites proposed as essential for sperm binding. In contrast, cricetid amino acid sequences of the pSBR were much more variable and the serine-rich motif, typical of murines, was generally substantially modified. Overall, our results suggest a general lack of species specificity of the pSBR across the two muroid families. We document statistical evidence of positive selection acting on exons 6 and 7 of ZP3 and identified several amino acid sites that are likely targets of selection, with most positively selected sites falling within or adjacent to the pSBR.