Lipidome Evolution in Mammalian Tissues

Mol Biol Evol. 2018 Aug 1;35(8):1947-1957. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msy097.

Abstract

Lipids are essential structural and functional components of cells. Little is known, however, about the evolution of lipid composition in different tissues. Here, we report a large-scale analysis of the lipidome evolution in six tissues of 32 species representing primates, rodents, and bats. While changes in genes' sequence and expression accumulate proportionally to the phylogenetic distances, <2% of the lipidome evolves this way. Yet, lipids constituting this 2% cluster in specific functions shared among all tissues. Among species, human show the largest amount of species-specific lipidome differences. Many of the uniquely human lipidome features localize in the brain cortex and cluster in specific pathways implicated in cognitive disorders.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Cerebral Cortex / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Lipid Metabolism*
  • Mammals / genetics*
  • Mammals / metabolism*
  • Species Specificity