Indirect sexual selection drives rapid sperm protein evolution in abalone

Sexual selection can explain the rapid evolution of fertilization proteins, yet sperm proteins evolve rapidly even if not directly involved in fertilization. In the marine mollusk abalone, sperm secrete enormous quantities of two rapidly evolving proteins, lysin and sp18, that are stored at nearly m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2019-12, Vol.8
Main Authors: Wilburn, Damien Beau, Tuttle, Lisa M, Klevit, Rachel E, Swanson, Willie J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
abalone
Analysis
Animal reproduction
Chromatography
Evolution
Evolutionary Biology
Exocytosis
Fertilization
Mammals
Natural selection
NMR
NMR spectroscopy
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Peptides
Proteins
rapid evolution
Seawater
Sexual selection
Sperm
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Surface active agents
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Sexual selection can explain the rapid evolution of fertilization proteins, yet sperm proteins evolve rapidly even if not directly involved in fertilization. In the marine mollusk abalone, sperm secrete enormous quantities of two rapidly evolving proteins, lysin and sp18, that are stored at nearly molar concentrations. We demonstrate that this extraordinary packaging is achieved by associating into Fuzzy Interacting Transient Zwitterion (FITZ) complexes upon binding the intrinsically disordered FITZ Anionic Partner (FITZAP). FITZ complexes form at intracellular ionic strengths and, upon exocytosis into seawater, lysin and sp18 are dispersed to drive fertilization. NMR analyses revealed that lysin uses a common molecular interface to bind both FITZAP and its egg receptor VERL. As sexual selection alters the lysin-VERL interface, FITZAP coevolves rapidly to maintain lysin binding. FITZAP-lysin interactions exhibit a similar species-specificity as lysin-VERL interactions. Thus, tethered molecular arms races driven by sexual selection can generally explain rapid sperm protein evolution.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.52628