TY - JOUR T1 - Evolution of Vertebrate Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 3 Channels: Opposite Temperature Sensitivity between Mammals and Western Clawed Frogs A1 - Saito, Shigeru A1 - Fukuta, Naomi A1 - Shingai, Ryuzo A1 - Tominaga, Makoto Y1 - 2011/04/07 N2 - Author Summary Evolution of temperature perception is crucial for adaptation to thermal environments; however, this process is poorly understood. Here we investigated the evolution of the vertebrate TRPV subfamily which contains several mammalian temperature receptors. We identified several novel TRPV genes that have not been found previously and discovered evolutionary flexibility of the TRPV3 gene during vertebrate evolution. TRPV3 channels perceive warm temperature and serve as sensors to detect ambient temperatures near the body temperature of homeothermic animals such as mammals. To examine the functional evolution of TRPV3 channels in vertebrate evolution, we cloned the gene from the western clawed frog and found that its N- and C-terminal regions were highly diversified from those of other terrestrial vertebrate TRPV3 channels. Characterization of the channel properties of western clawed frog TRPV3 revealed that it was not activated by heat stimuli, but instead was activated by cold stimuli. Temperature thresholds for activation were about 16 °C, slightly below the lower temperature limit for the western clawed frog. Thus, the western clawed frog and mammals acquired opposite temperature sensitivity of TRPV3 channels to detect environmental temperatures suitable for their respective species, indicating that temperature receptors can dynamically change properties to adapt to thermal environments during evolution. JF - PLOS Genetics JA - PLOS Genetics VL - 7 IS - 4 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002041 SP - e1002041 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002041 ER -