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Mammalian Keratin Associated Proteins (Krtaps) Subgenomes: Disentangling Hair Diversity And Adaptation To Terrestrial And Aquatic Environments, Imran Khan, Emanuel Maldonado, Vitor Vasconcelos, Stephen J. O'Brien, Warren E. Johnson, Agostinho Antunes
Mammalian Keratin Associated Proteins (Krtaps) Subgenomes: Disentangling Hair Diversity And Adaptation To Terrestrial And Aquatic Environments, Imran Khan, Emanuel Maldonado, Vitor Vasconcelos, Stephen J. O'Brien, Warren E. Johnson, Agostinho Antunes
Stephen O'Brien
Background Adaptation of mammals to terrestrial life was facilitated by the unique vertebrate trait of body hair, which occurs in a range of morphological patterns. Keratin associated proteins (KRTAPs), the major structural hair shaft proteins, are largely responsible for hair variation.
Results We exhaustively characterized the KRTAP gene family in 22 mammalian genomes, confirming the existence of 30 KRTAP subfamilies evolving at different rates with varying degrees of diversification and homogenization. Within the two major classes of KRTAPs, the high cysteine (HS) subfamily experienced strong concerted evolution, high rates of gene conversion/recombination and high GC content. In contrast, high glycine-tyrosine …