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Remarkably Duplicate Genes as Sources for Rapid Adaptive Evolution of Sperm under Environmental Pollution in Tree Sparrow
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  • Shengnan Wang,
  • Yingmei Zhang,
  • Wenzhi Yang,
  • Yue Shen,
  • Zhaocun Lin,
  • Sheng Zhang,
  • Gang Song
Shengnan Wang
Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yingmei Zhang
Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences
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Wenzhi Yang
Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences
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Yue Shen
Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences
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Zhaocun Lin
Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences
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Sheng Zhang
Lanzhou University School of Life Sciences
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Gang Song
Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Abstract

Environmental pollution can result in poor sperm quality either directly or indirectly. However, adaptive and compensatory sperm morphology change and motility improvement rapidly evolved in tree sparrow (Passer montanus) inhabited the polluted area within the past 65 years. To identify the genetic underpinnings of the rapidly evolved sperm phenotype, both the population genomic and transcriptomic methods were used in our study. We identified a gene encoding serine/threonine protein kinase PIM1 which may drive the rapid phenotypic evolution of sperm. An unprecedent and remarkably expansion of PIM gene family caused by tandem and segmental duplication of PIM1 was subsequently noticed in tree sparrow genome. Most of the PIM1 duplicates showed a testis-specific expression pattern, suggesting their functions related to male reproduction. Furthermore, the elevated expression level of PIM1 was consistent with our earlier findings of longer and faster swimming sperm in polluted site, indicating an important role of duplicated PIM1 in facilitating rapid evolution of sperm. Our results suggested that the duplicated PIM1 provide sources of genetic variation that enable rapid evolution of sperm under environmental heavy metal pollution. The findings in this study verified the duplicated genes can be targets of selection and predominant sources for rapid adaptation to environmental change and shed lights on the sperm evolution under environmental stress.
07 Aug 2022Submitted to Molecular Ecology
09 Aug 2022Submission Checks Completed
09 Aug 2022Assigned to Editor
25 Aug 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
12 Oct 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
13 Oct 2022Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
08 Nov 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
08 Nov 20221st Revision Received
11 Nov 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
17 Nov 2022Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
27 Nov 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Nov 20222nd Revision Received
27 Nov 2022Reviewer(s) Assigned
29 Nov 2022Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
12 Dec 20223rd Revision Received
12 Dec 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
13 Dec 2022Editorial Decision: Accept
Apr 2023Published in Molecular Ecology volume 32 issue 7 on pages 1673-1684. 10.1111/mec.16833