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

Jasmine L Loveland (Corresponding author), Alex Zemella (Corresponding author), Vladimir Jovanovic, Gabriele Möller, Christoph P. Sager, Barbara Bastos, Kenneth A. Dyar, Leonida Fusani, Manfred Gahr, Lina Maria Giraldo-Deck, Wolfgang Goymann, David B Lank, Janina Tokarz, Katja Nowick, Clemens Küpper (Corresponding author)

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)406–412
Number of pages7
JournalScience
Volume387
Issue number6732
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Jan 2025

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 106048 Animal physiology
  • 106013 Genetics
  • 106014 Genomics
  • 106012 Evolutionary research

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