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Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans

BACKGROUND: Hair is one of the main distinguishing characteristics of mammals and it has many important biological functions. Cetaceans originated from terrestrial mammals and they have evolved a series of adaptations to aquatic environments, which are of evolutionary significance. However, the mole...

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Autores principales: Chen, Zhuo, Wang, Zhengfei, Xu, Shixia, Zhou, Kaiya, Yang, Guang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3608953/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23394579
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-34
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author Chen, Zhuo
Wang, Zhengfei
Xu, Shixia
Zhou, Kaiya
Yang, Guang
author_facet Chen, Zhuo
Wang, Zhengfei
Xu, Shixia
Zhou, Kaiya
Yang, Guang
author_sort Chen, Zhuo
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Hair is one of the main distinguishing characteristics of mammals and it has many important biological functions. Cetaceans originated from terrestrial mammals and they have evolved a series of adaptations to aquatic environments, which are of evolutionary significance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their aquatic adaptations have not been well explored. This study provided insights into the evolution of hair loss during the transition from land to water by investigating and comparing two essential regulators of hair follicle development and hair follicle cycling, i.e., the Hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes, in representative cetaceans and their terrestrial relatives. RESULTS: The full open reading frame sequences of the Hr and FGF5 genes were characterized in seven cetaceans. The sequence characteristics and evolutionary analyses suggested the functional loss of the Hr gene in cetaceans, which supports the loss of hair during their full adaptation to aquatic habitats. By contrast, positive selection for the FGF5 gene was found in cetaceans where a series of positively selected amino acid residues were identified. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to investigate the molecular basis of the hair loss in cetaceans. Our investigation of Hr and FGF5, two indispensable regulators of the hair cycle, provide some new insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans. The results suggest that positive selection for the FGF5 gene might have promoted the termination of hair growth and early entry into the catagen stage of hair follicle cycling. Consequently, the hair follicle cycle was disrupted and the hair was lost completely due to the loss of the Hr gene function in cetaceans. This suggests that cetaceans have evolved an effective and complex mechanism for hair loss.
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spelling pubmed-36089532013-03-28 Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans Chen, Zhuo Wang, Zhengfei Xu, Shixia Zhou, Kaiya Yang, Guang BMC Evol Biol Research Article BACKGROUND: Hair is one of the main distinguishing characteristics of mammals and it has many important biological functions. Cetaceans originated from terrestrial mammals and they have evolved a series of adaptations to aquatic environments, which are of evolutionary significance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their aquatic adaptations have not been well explored. This study provided insights into the evolution of hair loss during the transition from land to water by investigating and comparing two essential regulators of hair follicle development and hair follicle cycling, i.e., the Hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes, in representative cetaceans and their terrestrial relatives. RESULTS: The full open reading frame sequences of the Hr and FGF5 genes were characterized in seven cetaceans. The sequence characteristics and evolutionary analyses suggested the functional loss of the Hr gene in cetaceans, which supports the loss of hair during their full adaptation to aquatic habitats. By contrast, positive selection for the FGF5 gene was found in cetaceans where a series of positively selected amino acid residues were identified. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to investigate the molecular basis of the hair loss in cetaceans. Our investigation of Hr and FGF5, two indispensable regulators of the hair cycle, provide some new insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans. The results suggest that positive selection for the FGF5 gene might have promoted the termination of hair growth and early entry into the catagen stage of hair follicle cycling. Consequently, the hair follicle cycle was disrupted and the hair was lost completely due to the loss of the Hr gene function in cetaceans. This suggests that cetaceans have evolved an effective and complex mechanism for hair loss. BioMed Central 2013-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC3608953/ /pubmed/23394579 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-34 Text en Copyright ©2013 Chen et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Chen, Zhuo
Wang, Zhengfei
Xu, Shixia
Zhou, Kaiya
Yang, Guang
Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans
title Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans
title_full Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans
title_fullStr Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans
title_full_unstemmed Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans
title_short Characterization of hairless (Hr) and FGF5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans
title_sort characterization of hairless (hr) and fgf5 genes provides insights into the molecular basis of hair loss in cetaceans
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3608953/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23394579
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-34
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