Integrating Evolutionary and Functional Tests of Adaptive Hypotheses: A Case Study of Altitudinal Differentiation in Hemoglobin Function in an Andean Sparrow, Zonotrichia capensis

• Published in: Molecular biology and evolution Vol. 31; no. 11; pp. 2948 - 2962
• Main Authors: Cheviron, Zachary A., Natarajan, Chandrasekhar, Projecto-Garcia, Joana, Eddy, Douglas K., Jones, Jennifer, Carling, Matthew D., Witt, Christopher C., Moriyama, Hideaki, Weber, Roy E., Fago, Angela, Storz, Jay F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.11.2014
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Alleles; alpha-Globins - genetics; alpha-Globins - metabolism; Altitude; Amino acids; Animals; Biological Transport; Birds; Differentiation; Discoveries; Functional testing; Gene Expression; Gene Frequency; Gene polymorphism; Genes; Genetic diversity; Genomic analysis; Genotype & phenotype; Genotypes; Hemoglobin; Hemoglobins - genetics; Hemoglobins - metabolism; Hypoxia - genetics; Hypoxia - metabolism; Isoforms; Mutants; Mutation; Oxygen - metabolism; Oxygenation; Partial pressure; Polymorphism; Protein Engineering; Protein Isoforms - genetics; Protein Isoforms - metabolism; Protein Subunits - genetics; Protein Subunits - metabolism; Proteins; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Site-directed mutagenesis; Sparrows - physiology; Vertebrates; Zonotrichia capensis; functional synthesis; hypoxia; adaptation; high-altitude adaptation; protein evolution

In air-breathing vertebrates, the physiologically optimal blood-O2 affinity is jointly determined by the prevailing partial pressure of atmospheric O2, the efficacy of pulmonary O2 transfer, and internal metabolic demands. Consequently, genetic variation in the oxygenation properties of hemoglobin (...