关键词: 蝙蝠, 犁鼻器, V1R基因, 假基因化

Abstract: The vomeronasal olfactory system (VNS) in mammals mainly detects pheromones, which play a crucial role in mammalian reproduction and social behavior. To investigate the molecular evolution of vomeronasal receptors, a comparative genomics approach was employed to analyze the vomeronasal receptor V1R genes from the published genomes of ten species of bats. Results showed that V1R genes are present in all ten species. However, V1R genes in most species are pseudogenes, although intact V1R genes were identified in Megaderma lyra and Pteronotus parnellii. Further analysis showed that the intact V1R gene in M. lyra is under neutral selection, indicative of vomeronasal insensitivity in this species. We observed significant purifying selection acting on three intact V1R genes in P. parnelli, suggesting that the function of vomeronasal organ in P. parnelli is retained. These results are consistent with morphological data from the bat VNS  and TRPC2 analysis of bat . Together, our study suggests widespread losses of vomeronasal olfactory function in bats, and the reasons underlying the vomeronasal insensitivity are complicated. We call for an in-depth investigation in the future.

Key words: Bat, Vomeronasal system, V1R gene, Pseudogenization