德国马克斯·普朗克生物智能研究所Clemens Küpper团队发现，单一基因调控雄性交配形态下的雄激素变异在流苏鹬中的作用。相关论文于2025年1月24日发表在《科学》杂志上。

研究人员发现，流苏鹬三种雄性交配形态之间的循环雄激素差异与17-β羟类固醇脱氢酶2（HSD17B2）相关，该酶由决定交配形态的超级基因中的基因编码。低睾酮雄性在血液中以及与社交行为和睾酮生成相关的大脑区域中，HSD17B2的表达量高于高睾酮雄性。

衍生型HSD17B2同工酶在高睾酮雄性中缺失，但在低睾酮雄性中优先表达，且该同工酶将睾酮转化为脱氢表雄酮的速度快于祖先型同工酶。因此，单一基因在调控、序列和结构上的演化改变引入了内分泌变异，从而影响了繁殖相关的表型。

研究人员表示，雄激素具有多效性，在性别表型的形成和变异中发挥着关键作用。

附：英文原文

Title: A single gene orchestrates androgen variation underlying male mating morphs in ruffs

Author: Jasmine L. Loveland, Alex Zemella, Vladimir M. Jovanovi, Gabriele Mller, Christoph P. Sager, Bárbara Bastos, Kenneth A. Dyar, Leonida Fusani, Manfred Gahr, Lina M. Giraldo-Deck, Wolfgang Goymann, David B. Lank, Janina Tokarz, Katja Nowick, Clemens Küpper

Issue&Volume: 2025-01-24

Abstract: Androgens are pleiotropic and play pivotal roles in the formation and variation of sexual phenotypes. We show that differences in circulating androgens between the three male mating morphs in ruff sandpipers are linked to 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (HSD17B2), encoded by a gene within the supergene that determines the morphs. Low-testosterone males had higher HSD17B2 expression in blood than high-testosterone males, as well as in brain areas related to social behaviors and testosterone production. Derived HSD17B2 isozymes, which are absent in high-testosterone males but preferentially expressed in low-testosterone males, converted testosterone to androstenedione faster than the ancestral isozyme. Thus, a combination of evolutionary changes in regulation, sequence, and structure of a single gene introduces endocrine variation underlying reproductive phenotypes.

DOI: adp5936

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp5936