Journal article
COMPLEX EVOLUTION OF BILE SALTS IN BIRDS
The Auk, Vol.127(4), pp.820-831
10/2010
DOI: 10.1525/auk.2010.09155
PMCID: PMC2990222
PMID: 21113274
Abstract
Bile salts are the major end-metabolites of cholesterol and are important in lipid digestion and shaping of the gut microflora. There have been limited studies of bile-salt variation in birds. The purpose of our study was to determine bile-salt variation among birds and relate this variation to current avian phylogenies and hypotheses on the evolution of bile salt pathways. We determined the biliary bile-salt composition of 405 phylogenetically diverse bird species, including 7 paleognath species. Bile salt profiles were generally stable within bird families. Complex bile-salt profiles were more common in omnivores and herbivores than in carnivores. The structural variation of bile salts in birds is extensive and comparable to that seen in surveys of bile salts in reptiles and mammals. Birds produce many of the bile salts found throughout nonavian vertebrates and some previously uncharacterized bile salts. One difference between birds and other vertebrates is extensive hydroxylation of carbon-16 of bile salts in bird species. Comparison of our data set of bird bile salts with that of other vertebrates, especially reptiles, allowed us to infer evolutionary changes in the bile salt synthetic pathway.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- COMPLEX EVOLUTION OF BILE SALTS IN BIRDS
- Creators
- Lee R Hagey - Department of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California, 92093, USANicolas Vidal - Département Systématique et Evolution, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, FranceAlan F Hofmann - Department of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California, 92093, USAMatthew D Krasowski - Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Auk, Vol.127(4), pp.820-831
- DOI
- 10.1525/auk.2010.09155
- PMID
- 21113274
- PMCID
- PMC2990222
- ISSN
- 0004-8038
- eISSN
- 1938-4254
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/2010
- Academic Unit
- Pathology
- Record Identifier
- 9984047657702771
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