Accelerated evolution of CES7, a gene encoding a novel major urinary protein in the cat family
Open accessAbstract
Cauxin is a novel urinary protein recently identified in the domestic cat that regulates the excretion of felinine, a pheromone precursor involved in sociochemical communication and territorial marking of domestic and wild felids. Understanding the evolutionary history of cauxin may therefore illuminate molecular adaptations involved in the evolution of pheromone-based communication, recognition, and mate selection in wild animals. We sequenced the gene encoding cauxin, CES7, in 22 species representing all major felid lineages, and multiple outgroups and showed that it has undergone rapid evolutionary change preceding and during the diversification of the cat family. A comparison between feline cauxin and orthologous carboxylesterases from other mammalian lineages revealed evidence of strong positive Darwinian selection within and between several cat lineages, enriched at functionally important sites of the protein. The higher rate of radical amino acid replacements in small felids, coupled with the lack of felinine and extremely low levels of cauxin in the urine of the great cats (Panthera), correlates with functional divergence of this gene in Panthera, and its putative loss in the snow leopard. Expression studies found evidence for several alternatively spliced transcripts in testis and brain, suggesting additional roles in male reproductive fitness and behavior. Our work presents the first report of strong positive natural selection acting on a major urinary protein of nonrodent mammals, providing evidence for parallel selection pressure on the regulation of pheromones in different mammalian lineages, despite the use of different metabolic pathways. Our results imply that natural selection may drive rapid changes in the regulation of pheromones in urine among the different cat species, which in turn may influence social behavior, such as territorial marking and conspecific recognition, therefore serving as an important mechanism for the radiation of this group of mammals.
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These results support cats' extensive reliance on pheromones for sociochemical communication and are consistent with a genomic tradeoff between functional Or and V1r repertoires in response to uniquely evolved ecological strategies in the canid and felid lineages.
“These results add further evidence supporting cats' extensive reliance on pheromones for sociochemical communication (38), which is consistent with a genomic tradeoff between functional Or and V1r repertoires in response to uniquely evolved ecological strategies in the canid and felid lineages (4).”
From Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication (2014) · cites this paper as [38]
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Chemical Communication Using the Urinary Compounds in the Domestic Cat
宮崎, 雅. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-30752-1_8
- Authors
- Li, G., Janecka, J. E., & Murphy, W. J.
- Affiliations
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Murphy, W. J.
- ORCID
- Li, G.
- Venue
- Molecular Biology and Evolution
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2010-10-21
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 911-920
- ISSN
- 0737-4038 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-1719
- OpenAlex
- W2107635346
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Molecular Biology and Evolution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0629849)
- Panthera
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- major urinary proteins, Felidae, positive selection, carboxylesterase, urinary pheromones, social communication, territorial marking, conspecific recognition, alternative splicing, Panthera, snow leopard, cats, gene evolution
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cats, Cysteine, Male, Pheromones, Phylogeny, Gene Expression, Evolution, Molecular, Carboxylesterase, Felidae
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