ArticlePLoS genetics2016
Selection on Coding and Regulatory Variation Maintains Individuality in Major Urinary Protein Scent Marks in Wild Mice.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social environment affects vocal individuality in a non-learning species.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Major urinary protein (Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
- The Expansion of House Mouse Major Urinary Protein Genes Likely Did Not Facilitate Commensalism with Humans.Genes · 2023Article
- Increased paternal corticosterone exposure influences offspring behaviour and expression of urinary pheromones.BMC biology · 2023Article
- Unraveling female communication through scent marks in the Norway rat.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Dynamic changes to signal allocation rules in response to variable social environments in house mice.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Color is necessary for face discrimination in the Northern paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- Scent mark signal investment predicts fight dynamics in house mice.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Component-Resolved Diagnosis Based on a Recombinant Variant of Mus m 1 Lipocalin Allergen.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Regulation of Sexually Dimorphic Expression of Major Urinary Proteins.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Review
- Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Alters the Expression of Male Mouse Scent Proteins.Viruses · 2021Article
- Coding of pheromones by vomeronasal receptors.Cell and tissue research · 2021Review
- Distinct evolutionary trajectories of V1R clades across mouse species.BMC evolutionary biology · 2020Article
- Evolutionarily stable investments in recognition systems explain patterns of discrimination failure and success.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Coevolution of cognitive abilities and identity signals in individual recognition systems.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Molecular complexity of the major urinary protein system of the Norway rat, Rattus norvegicus.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Signal Detection and Coding in the Accessory Olfactory System.Chemical senses · 2018Review
- Individual odour signatures that mice learn are shaped by involatile major urinary proteins (MUPs).BMC biology · 2018Article
- Glareosin: a novel sexually dimorphic urinary lipocalin in the bank vole,Open biology · 2017Article
- Signal function drives phenotypic and genetic diversity: the effects of signalling individual identity, quality or behavioural strategy.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Recognition of individuals by scent is widespread across animal taxa. Though animals can often discriminate chemical blends based on many compounds, recent work shows that specific protein pheromones are necessary and sufficient for individual recognition via scent marks in mice. The genetic nature of individuality in scent marks (e.g. coding versus regulatory variation) and the evolutionary processes that maintain diversity are poorly understood. The individual signatures in scent marks of house mice are the protein products of a group of highly similar paralogs in the major urinary protein (Mup) gene family. Using the offspring of wild-caught mice, we examine individuality in the major urinary protein (MUP) scent marks at the DNA, RNA and protein levels. We show that individuality arises through a combination of variation at amino acid coding sites and differential transcription of central Mup genes across individuals, and we identify eSNPs in promoters. There is no evidence of post-transcriptional processes influencing phenotypic diversity as transcripts accurately predict the relative abundance of proteins in urine samples. The match between transcripts and urine samples taken six months earlier also emphasizes that the proportional relationships across central MUP isoforms in urine is stable. Balancing selection maintains coding variants at moderate frequencies, though pheromone diversity appears limited by interactions with vomeronasal receptors. We find that differential transcription of the central Mup paralogs within and between individuals significantly increases the individuality of pheromone blends. Balancing selection on gene regulation allows for increased individuality via combinatorial diversity in a limited number of pheromones.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.