ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2019
Odontogenic ameloblast-associated (ODAM) is inactivated in toothless/enamelless placental mammals and toothed whales.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- ODAPH (p.Arg77*) Phenotype and Onset of Ameloblast Pathology During Postsecretory Transition Demonstrated by FIB-SEM Analyses of OdaphCalcified tissue international · 2026Article
- Pseudogenes document protracted parallel regression of oral anatomy in myrmecophagous mammals.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- From few to many: How non-model organisms' genomics broadened our understanding of molecular evolution.Genetics and molecular biology · 2026Article
- Phylogenomic Approaches to Study Adaptive Evolution in Mammals: From Aging to Aquatic Lifestyles.Annual review of genetics · 2025Review
- How teeth, tusks and horny pads evolved together in sea cows.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
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- Mapping restricted introgression across the genomes of admixed indigenous African cattle breeds.Genetics, selection, evolution : GSE · 2023Article
- From teeth to pad: tooth loss and development of keratinous structures in sirenians.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Role of junctional epithelium in maintaining dento-gingival adhesion and periodontal health.Frontiers in dental medicine · 2023Review
- A 3D transcriptomics atlas of the mouse nose sheds light on the anatomical logic of smell.Cell reports · 2022Article
- Pseudogenized Amelogenin Reveals Early Tooth Loss in True Toads (Anura: Bufonidae).Integrative and comparative biology · 2021Article
- Molecular Evolution of Tooth-Related Genes Provides New Insights into Dietary Adaptations of Mammals.Journal of molecular evolution · 2021Article
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- Single-Cell Sequencing Unveils the Heterogeneity of Nonimmune Cells in Chronic Apical Periodontitis.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Article
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- PseudoChecker: an integrated online platform for gene inactivation inference.Nucleic acids research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe gene for odontogenic ameloblast-associated (ODAM) is a member of the secretory calcium-binding phosphoprotein gene family. ODAM is primarily expressed in dental tissues including the enamel organ and the junctional epithelium, and may also have pleiotropic functions that are unrelated to teeth. Here, we leverage the power of natural selection to test competing hypotheses that ODAM is tooth-specific versus pleiotropic. Specifically, we compiled and screened complete protein-coding sequences, plus sequences for flanking intronic regions, for ODAM in 165 placental mammals to determine if this gene contains inactivating mutations in lineages that either lack teeth (baleen whales, pangolins, anteaters) or lack enamel on their teeth (aardvarks, sloths, armadillos), as would be expected if the only essential functions of ODAM are related to tooth development and the adhesion of the gingival junctional epithelium to the enamel tooth surface.
resultsWe discovered inactivating mutations in all species of placental mammals that either lack teeth or lack enamel on their teeth. A surprising result is that ODAM is also inactivated in a few additional lineages including all toothed whales that were examined. We hypothesize that ODAM inactivation is related to the simplified outer enamel surface of toothed whales. An alternate hypothesis is that ODAM inactivation in toothed whales may be related to altered antimicrobial functions of the junctional epithelium in aquatic habitats. Selection analyses on ODAM sequences revealed that the composite dN/dS value for pseudogenic branches is close to 1.0 as expected for a neutrally evolving pseudogene. DN/dS values on transitional branches were used to estimate ODAM inactivation times. In the case of pangolins, ODAM was inactivated ~ 65 million years ago, which is older than the oldest pangolin fossil (Eomanis, 47 Ma) and suggests an even more ancient loss or simplification of teeth in this lineage.
conclusionOur results validate the hypothesis that the only essential functions of ODAM that are maintained by natural selection are related to tooth development and/or the maintenance of a healthy junctional epithelium that attaches to the enamel surface of teeth.
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