2. Academic Validation
  3. Molecular mechanism of the tree shrew's insensitivity to spiciness

Molecular mechanism of the tree shrew's insensitivity to spiciness

  • PLoS Biol. 2018 Jul 12;16(7):e2004921. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2004921.
Yalan Han 1 2,  Bowen Li 1 2,  Ting-Ting Yin 2 3,  Cheng Xu 1 2,  Rose Ombati 1 2,  Lei Luo 1 2,  Yujie Xia 4,  Lizhen Xu 5,  Jie Zheng 6,  Yaping Zhang 2,  Fan Yang 5,  Guo-Dong Wang 3 7,  Shilong Yang 1,  Ren Lai 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences/Key Laboratory of bioactive peptides of Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
  • 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, and Yunnan Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Domestic Animals, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
  • 4 Kunming Primate Research Center, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
  • 5 Department of Biophysics and Kidney Disease Center, First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Neuroscience, National Health Commission and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
  • 6 Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
  • 7 Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
PMID: 30001322 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2004921
Abstract

Spicy foods elicit a pungent or hot and painful sensation that repels almost all mammals. Here, we observe that the tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis), which possesses a close relationship with primates and can directly and actively consume spicy Plants. Our genomic and functional analyses reveal that a single point mutation in the tree shrew's transient receptor potential vanilloid type-1 (TRPV1) ion channel (tsV1) lowers its sensitivity to capsaicinoids, which enables the unique feeding behavior of tree shrews with regards to pungent Plants. We show that strong selection for this residue in tsV1 might be driven by Piper boehmeriaefolium, a spicy plant that geographically overlaps with the tree shrew and produces Cap2, a capsaicin analog, in abundance. We propose that the mutation in tsV1 is a part of evolutionary adaptation that enables the tree shrew to tolerate pungency, thus widening the range of its diet for better survival.

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