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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Communications biology
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40615540/ |
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Table of Contents:
- The evolutionary path of the epithelial sodium channel δ-subunit in Cetartiodactyla points to a role in sodium sensing. Zahnow, Fynn Jäger, Chiara Mohamed, Yassmin Vogelhuber, Gianluca May, Fabian Ciocan, Alexandra Maria Manieri, Arianna Maxeiner, Stephan Krasteva-Christ, Gabriela Schnappauf, Oskar Cobain, Matthew R D Podsiadlowski, Lars Crespo-Picazo, José Luis García-Párraga, Daniel Althaus, Mike Animals Epithelial Sodium Channels Evolution, Molecular Cetacea Sodium Phylogeny The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) is essential for osmoregulation in tetrapod vertebrates. There are four ENaC-subunits (α, β, γ, δ) which form αβγ- or δβγ-ENaCs. While αβγ-ENaC is a 'maintenance protein' controlling sodium homeostasis, δβγ-ENaC might represent a 'stress protein' monitoring high sodium concentrations. The δ-subunit emerged with water-to-land transition of vertebrates. We examined ENaC evolution in Cetartiodactyla, a group including even-toed ungulates and cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) which returned to marine environments in the Eocene. Genes for α-, β-, and γ-ENaC are intact across Cetartiodactyla. While SCNN1D (δ-ENaC) is intact in terrestrial Artiodactyla, it is a pseudogene in cetaceans. A unique fusion of SCNN1D exons 11 and 12 is observed in the Antilopinae. Transcripts of α-, β-, and γ-ENaC are present in kidney, lung and skin tissues of Bottlenose dolphins, underscoring αβγ-ENaC's maintenance role. Bottlenose dolphins and Beluga whales do not show behavioural differences between sodium-containing and sodium-free stimuli, supporting a function of δ-ENaC as a sodium sensing protein which might have become obsolete in high-salinity marine environments. Consistently, there is reduced selection pressure or pseudogenisation of SCNN1D in other marine mammals. Erosion of SCNN1D might therefore be a consequence of environmental transition in marine mammals.