Convergent genomic signatures of flight loss in birds suggest a switch of main fuel

Shengkai Pan, Yi Lin, Qiong Liu, Jinzhi Duan, Zhenzhen Lin, Yusong Wang, Xueli Wang, Sin Man Lam, Zhen Zou, Guanghou Shui, Yu Zhang, Zhengwang Zhang and Xiangjiang Zhan ()
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Shengkai Pan: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yi Lin: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qiong Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jinzhi Duan: National Institute of Biological Sciences
Zhenzhen Lin: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yusong Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xueli Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sin Man Lam: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhen Zou: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guanghou Shui: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yu Zhang: National Institute of Biological Sciences
Zhengwang Zhang: Beijing Normal University
Xiangjiang Zhan: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Flight loss in birds is as characteristic of the class Aves as flight itself. Although morphological and physiological differences are recognized in flight-degenerate bird species, their contributions to recurrent flight degeneration events across modern birds and underlying genetic mechanisms remain unclear. Here, in an analysis of 295 million nucleotides from 48 bird genomes, we identify two convergent sites causing amino acid changes in ATGLSer321Gly and ACOT7Ala197Val in flight-degenerate birds, which to our knowledge have not previously been implicated in loss of flight. Functional assays suggest that Ser321Gly reduces lipid hydrolytic ability of ATGL, and Ala197Val enhances acyl-CoA hydrolytic activity of ACOT7. Modeling simulations suggest a switch of main energy sources from lipids to carbohydrates in flight-degenerate birds. Our results thus suggest that physiological convergence plays an important role in flight degeneration, and anatomical convergence often invoked may not.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10682-3

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