title: Oxytocin and arginine vasopressin receptor evolution: implications for adaptive novelties in placental mammals.
abstract: Oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and arginine vasopressin receptors (AVPR1a, AVPR1b, and AVPR2) are paralogous genes that emerged through duplication events; along the evolutionary timeline, owing to speciation, numerous orthologues emerged as well. In order to elucidate the evolutionary forces that shaped these four genes in placental mammals and to reveal specific aspects of their protein structures, 35 species were selected. Specifically, we investigated their molecular evolutionary history and intrinsic protein disorder content, and identified the presence of short linear interaction motifs. OXTR seems to be under evolutionary constraint in placental mammals, whereas AVPR1a, AVPR1b, and AVPR2 exhibit higher evolutionary rates, suggesting that they have been under relaxed or experienced positive selection. In addition, we describe here, for the first time, that the OXTR, AVPR1a, AVPR1b, and AVPR2 mammalian orthologues preserve their disorder content, while this condition varies among the paralogues. Finally, our results reveal the presence of short linear interaction motifs, indicating possible functional adaptations related to physiological and/or behavioral taxa-specific traits.
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors: Pamela
authors: P
authors: Paré
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biodiversidade, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors: Vanessa R
authors: VR
authors: Paixão-Côrtes
authors: Laboratório de Fisiologia da Reprodução Animal, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Curitibanos, SC, Brazil.
authors: Luciana
authors: L
authors: Tovo-Rodrigues
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors: Pedro
authors: P
authors: Vargas-Pinilla
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors: Lucas Henriques
authors: LH
authors: Viscardi
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors: Francisco Mauro
authors: FM
authors: Salzano
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
authors: Luiz E
authors: LE
authors: Henkes
authors: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors: Maria Catira
authors: MC
authors: Bortolini