AI Article Synopsis
- * Researchers mapped the genome of the long-tailed hermit hummingbird and found that a specific gene (fructose-bisphosphatase 2) was lost in its evolutionary history when hovering flight developed.
- * The loss of this gene leads to increased glycolysis and more mitochondria in muscle cells, indicating it played a crucial role in the metabolic adaptations necessary for the hummingbird's hovering ability.
Article Abstract
Hummingbirds possess distinct metabolic adaptations to fuel their energy-demanding hovering flight, but the underlying genomic changes are largely unknown. Here, we generated a chromosome-level genome assembly of the long-tailed hermit and screened for genes that have been specifically inactivated in the ancestral hummingbird lineage. We discovered that (fructose-bisphosphatase 2), which encodes a gluconeogenic muscle enzyme, was lost during a time period when hovering flight evolved. We show that knockdown in an avian muscle cell line up-regulates glycolysis and enhances mitochondrial respiration, coincident with an increased mitochondria number. Furthermore, genes involved in mitochondrial respiration and organization have up-regulated expression in hummingbird flight muscle. Together, these results suggest that loss was likely a key step in the evolution of metabolic muscle adaptations required for true hovering flight.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abn7050 | DOI Listing |
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