近日，美国犹他大学M. Denise Dearing及其研究组发现，平行基因扩展推动草食性木鼠的快速饮食适应。相关论文于2025年1月10日发表在《科学》杂志上。

研究人员调查了两种木鼠（Neotoma lepida 和 N. bryanti）对克雷奥索特灌木（Larrea tridentata）的适应。该植物是一种有毒灌木，在最后一个冰川最大期后扩展到美国西南部。研究人员发现，适应克雷奥索特的木鼠在多个生物转化酶家族中基因剂量升高。

这些基因重复事件在不同物种中独立发生，并显著增加了生物转化基因的表达，尤其是在葡萄糖醛酸化途径中。研究人员提出，基因剂量的增加是由基因重复导致的一种重要机制，通过这种机制，动物最初能够适应新的环境压力。

附：英文原文

Title: Parallel gene expansions drive rapid dietary adaptation in herbivorous woodrats

Author: Dylan M. Klure, Robert Greenhalgh, Teri J. Orr, Michael D. Shapiro, M. Denise Dearing

Issue&Volume: 2025-01-10

Abstract: How mammalian herbivores evolve to feed on chemically defended plants remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the adaptation of two species of woodrats (Neotoma lepida and N. bryanti) to creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), a toxic shrub that expanded across the southwestern United States after the Last Glacial Maximum. We found that creosote-adapted woodrats have elevated gene dosage across multiple biotransformation enzyme families. These duplication events occurred independently across species and substantially increase expression of biotransformation genes, especially within the glucuronidation pathway. We propose that increased gene dosage resulting from duplication is an important mechanism by which animals initially adapt to novel environmental pressures.

DOI: adp7978

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp7978