Why Does the Giant Panda Eat Bamboo? A Comparative Analysis of Appetite-reward-related Genes Among Mammals

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2011 Aug 6

PMID 21818345

Citations 16

Authors

Ke Jin

Chenyi Xue

Xiaoli Wu

Jinyi Qian

Yong Zhu

Zhen Yang

Takahiro Yonezawa

M James C Crabbe

Ying Cao

Masami Hasegawa

Yang Zhong

Yufang Zheng

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The giant panda has an interesting bamboo diet unlike the other species in the order of Carnivora. The umami taste receptor gene T1R1 has been identified as a pseudogene during its genome sequencing project and confirmed using a different giant panda sample. The estimated mutation time for this gene is about 4.2 Myr. Such mutation coincided with the giant panda's dietary change and also reinforced its herbivorous life style. However, as this gene is preserved in herbivores such as cow and horse, we need to look for other reasons behind the giant panda's diet switch.

Methodology/principal Findings: Since taste is part of the reward properties of food related to its energy and nutrition contents, we did a systematic analysis on those genes involved in the appetite-reward system for the giant panda. We extracted the giant panda sequence information for those genes and compared with the human sequence first and then with seven other species including chimpanzee, mouse, rat, dog, cat, horse, and cow. Orthologs in panda were further analyzed based on the coding region, Kozak consensus sequence, and potential microRNA binding of those genes.

Conclusions/significance: Our results revealed an interesting dopamine metabolic involvement in the panda's food choice. This finding suggests a new direction for molecular evolution studies behind the panda's dietary switch.

Citing Articles

Whole Genome Analysis Reveals Evolutionary History and Introgression Events in Bale Monkeys.

Seshadri L, Atickem A, Zinner D, Roos C, Zhang L Genes (Basel). 2024; 15(11).

PMID: 39596559 PMC: 11593718. DOI: 10.3390/genes15111359.

A comparative study of skin transcriptomes and histological observations for black and white hair colors of giant panda.

Wang Y, Liang S, Tu S, Shen Z, Dong Y, Liu G Front Med (Lausanne). 2022; 9:983992.

PMID: 36507537 PMC: 9729551. DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.983992.

Single-base-resolution methylome of giant panda's brain, liver and pancreatic tissue.

Ren J, Shen F, Zhang L, Sun J, Yang M, Yang M PeerJ. 2019; 7:e7847.

PMID: 31637123 PMC: 6800980. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7847.

Carnivory in the larvae of Drosophila melanogaster and other Drosophila species.

Yang D Sci Rep. 2018; 8(1):15484.

PMID: 30341324 PMC: 6195549. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-33906-w.

Metagenomic Study Suggests That the Gut Microbiota of the Giant Panda () May Not Be Specialized for Fiber Fermentation.

Guo W, Mishra S, Zhao J, Tang J, Zeng B, Kong F Front Microbiol. 2018; 9:229.

PMID: 29503636 PMC: 5820910. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00229.

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