Potential arms race in the coevolution of primates and angiosperms: brazzein sweet proteins and gorilla taste receptors

Guevara, Elaine E.; Veilleux, Carrie C.; Saltonstall, Kristin; Caccone, Adalgisa; Mundy, Nicholas I.; Bradley, Brenda J.

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23046

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Leaves and bark often contain distasteful bitter compounds to deter feeding, while nectar and fruit often contain high‐calorie sugar rewards to encourage pollination and seed dispersal, respectively. Interestingly, some plant species cheat by producing fruit with “sugar mimics” that are made of low‐calorie proteins rather than high‐calorie sugars, and primate species vary in whether they perceive these sugar mimics as sweet, suggesting an ongoing “arms race” between primate frugivores and fruiting plants 195 …”

Section: Overview Of Current Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, some plant species cheat by producing fruit with "sugar mimics" that are made of low-calorie proteins rather than high-calorie sugars, and primate species vary in whether they perceive these sugar mimics as sweet, suggesting an ongoing "arms race" between primate frugivores and fruiting plants. 195 Not surprisingly, different aspects of primate taste (Box 1) appear to be associated with feeding strategy. Frugivorous and nectarivorous primates, for example, are highly sensitive to sugars found in fruit and nectar, for example, fructose and ethanol.…”

Section: Comparative Sensory Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The sensory ecology of primate food perception, revisited

Veilleux

Dominy

Melin

2022

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Twenty years ago, Dominy and colleagues published “The sensory ecology of primate food perception,” an impactful review that brought new perspectives to understanding primate foraging adaptations. Their review synthesized information on primate senses and explored how senses informed feeding behavior. Research on primate sensory ecology has seen explosive growth in the last two decades. Here, we revisit this important topic, focusing on the numerous new discoveries and lines of innovative research. We begin by reviewing each of the five traditionally recognized senses involved in foraging: audition, olfaction, vision, touch, and taste. For each sense, we provide an overview of sensory function and comparative ecology, comment on the state of knowledge at the time of the original review, and highlight advancements and lingering gaps in knowledge. Next, we provide an outline for creative, multidisciplinary, and innovative future research programs that we anticipate will generate exciting new discoveries in the next two decades.

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Section: Overview Of Current Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Comparative Sensory Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The sensory ecology of primate food perception, revisited

Veilleux

Dominy

Melin

2022

Evolutionary Anthropology

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“…Plants ‘want’ their fruit or berries to be eaten, and manipulate frugivorous behaviour through changes in sourness, sweetness, colour and other cues timed to coincide with their seeds’ ripeness. Some plant species have even developed highly sweet-tasting proteins such as brazzein to entice seed dispersers ( 6 ) , presumably with the advantage to the plant that the metabolic cost per unit of sweetness is lower for brazzein than for sugar. A function of bitterness for plants is a defence against the predation of their leaves and stems.…”

Section: Sweetnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of low-calorie sweeteners in the prevention and management of overweight and obesity: evidence v. conjecture

Rogers

2017

Proc. Nutr. Soc.

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By virtue of reducing dietary energy density, low-calorie sweeteners (LCS) can be expected to decrease overall energy intake and thereby decrease body weight. Such effects will be limited by the amount of sugar replaced by LCS, and the dynamics of appetite and weight control (e.g., acute compensatory eating, and an increase in appetite and decrease in energy expenditure accompanying weight loss). Consistent with these predictions, short-term intervention studies show incomplete compensation for the consumption of LCS v. sugar, and longer-term intervention studies (from 4 weeks to 40 months duration) show small decreases in energy intake and body weight with LCS v. sugar. Despite this evidence, there are claims that LCS undermine weight management. Three claims are that: (1) LCS disrupt the learned control of energy intake (sweet taste confusion hypothesis); (2) exposure to sweetness increases desire for sweetness (sweet tooth hypothesis); (3) consumers might consciously overcompensate for ‘calories saved’ when they know they are consuming LCS (conscious overcompensation hypothesis). None of these claims stands up to close examination. In any case, the results of the intervention studies comparing LCS v. sugar indicate that the effect of energy dilution outweighs any tendency LCS might conceivably have to increase energy intake.

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“…Given that our metric (bite/reject) is crude, and the use of taste is also used in fruit acceptance behaviours, the limitations of field research for assessing taste are large at present. Drivers of interspecific variation in this behaviour remain opaque, and study of fruit compounds and taste receptors [ 68 ] or behavioural experiments in the same vein as (e.g. [ 69 ]) hold considerable promise and would be useful for further exploring this question.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anatomy and dietary specialization influence sensory behaviour among sympatric primates

et al. 2022

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Senses form the interface between animals and environments, and provide a window into the ecology of past and present species. However, research on sensory behaviours by wild frugivores is sparse. Here, we examine fruit assessment by three sympatric primates ( Alouatta palliata , Ateles geoffroyi and Cebus imitator ) to test the hypothesis that dietary and sensory specialization shape foraging behaviours. Ateles and Cebus groups are comprised of dichromats and trichromats, while all Alouatta are trichomats. We use anatomical proxies to examine smell, taste and manual touch, and opsin genotyping to assess colour vision. We find that the frugivorous spider monkeys ( Ateles geoffroyi ) sniff fruits most often, omnivorous capuchins ( Cebus imitator ), the species with the highest manual dexterity, use manual touch most often, and that main olfactory bulb volume is a better predictor of sniffing behaviour than nasal turbinate surface area. We also identify an interaction between colour vision phenotype and use of other senses. Controlling for species, dichromats sniff and bite fruits more often than trichromats, and trichromats use manual touch to evaluate cryptic fruits more often than dichromats. Our findings reveal new relationships among dietary specialization, anatomical variation and foraging behaviour, and promote understanding of sensory system evolution.

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Potential arms race in the coevolution of primates and angiosperms: brazzein sweet proteins and gorilla taste receptors

Abstract: We propose that the gorilla-specific mutations at the TAS1R3 locus encoding T1R3 could be a counter-adaptation to the false sweet signal of brazzein.

Cited by 8 publications

References 38 publications

The sensory ecology of primate food perception, revisited

The sensory ecology of primate food perception, revisited

The role of low-calorie sweeteners in the prevention and management of overweight and obesity: evidence v. conjecture

Anatomy and dietary specialization influence sensory behaviour among sympatric primates

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