Amylase activity variation in the guts of several model organisms appears to be explained by amylase gene copy number variation. We tested the hypothesis that amylase gene copy number is always elevated in animals with high amylolytic activity. We therefore sequenced the amylase genes and examined amylase gene copy number in prickleback fishes (family Stichaeidae) with different diets including two species of convergently evolved herbivores with the elevated amylase activity phenotype. We found elevated amylase gene copy number (six haploid copies) with sequence variation among copies in one herbivore (Cebidichthys violaceus) and modest gene copy number (two to three haploid copies) with little sequence variation in the remaining taxa, which included herbivores, omnivores, and a carnivore. Few functional differences in amylase biochemistry were observed, and previous investigations showed similar digestibility among the convergently evolved herbivores with differing amylase genetics. Hence, the phenotype of elevated amylase activity can be achieved by different mechanisms (i.e., elevated expression of fewer genes, increased gene copy number, or expression of more efficient amylase proteins) with similar results. Phylogenetic and comparative genomic analyses of available fish amylase genes show mostly lineage-specific duplication events leading to gene copy number variation, although a whole-genome duplication event or chromosomal translocation may have produced multiple amylase copies in the Ostariophysi, again showing multiple routes to the same result.
Keywords: diet; digestive enzyme; evolution; genetics; specialization.