Rodent Urinary Proteins: Genetic Identity Signals and Pheromones

Molecular heterogeneity in major urinary proteins of Mus musculus subspecies: potential candidates involved in speciation

“…Major urinary proteins are involved in social and sexual communication in the house mouse56, and we hypothesised that they could participate in signal divergence underlying assortative mate preference and possibly speciation by reinforcement between its two European subspecies112757. Earlier behavioural investigations have shown that contact populations (particularly musculus ) discriminate between urine of the two subspecies, whether urine is of contact or allopatric origin1112.…”

“…As urine concentration varies according to the hydration status of the donor at the time of sampling, we introduced the value of using urinary creatinine to standardise urinary protein concentration515673. Urinary creatinine concentration was measured by Diagnostic Creatinine Assay (Sigma, Poole, UK) (see ref.…”

Female attraction to male scent and associative learning: the house mouse as a mammalian model

“…However, the proportion of total urinary MUP output that is due to darcin varies across individual males, in part because of genetically determined differences in individual MUP patterns (e.g. see Figure 9.4 in Hurst & Beynon, 2013). Experiments that manipulate the amount of darcin independently of other urinary components including other MUPs will be needed to understand how variation in investment in this specific urinary pheromone influences male attractiveness to females.…”

“…MUPs are a group of 18e20 kDa proteins that are members of the lipocalin superfamily; these proteins have a characteristic b-barrel structure surrounding a central cavity that is capable of binding low molecular weight lipophilic molecules (see . MUPs are produced by both sexes but adult male urine typically contains an approximately three to four times higher concentration than female urine under laboratory housing conditions (Cheetham, Smith, Armstrong, Beynon, & Hurst, 2009); under more natural social conditions in seminatural populations, the investment among wild-stock house mice increases greatly, with males continuing to produce approximately twice as much as females but with considerable overlap in investment between the sexes (Hurst & Beynon, 2013). MUPs bind a number of ligands, including several androgen-specific volatiles that have known reproductive priming effects on females (Bacchini, Gaetani, & Cavaggioni, 1992;Mucignat-Caretta, Caretta, & Cavaggioni, 1995;Novotny, Ma, Wiesler, & Zidek, 1999) as well as a much wider range of volatile organic urinary metabolites (Kwak et al, 2012), which appear to include the volatile odours associated with MHC type (Singer, Tsuchiya, Wellington, Beauchamp, & Yamazaki, 1993).…”

Evolutionary patterns of major urinary protein scent signals in house mice and relatives

“…These territorial urine marks are subsequently used to assess competitors and potential mates. Work on genetically diverse wild populations of house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) has consistently demonstrated a critical role for major urinary proteins (MUPs) in scent marking (Cheetham et al, 2007;Green et al, 2015;Hurst & Beynon, 2013). MUPs are involatile lipocalin proteins that act directly as pheromones, and also influence volatile components of urine markings (Chamero et al, 2007;Nevison, Armstrong, Beynon, Humphries, & Hurst, 2003;Timm, Baker, Mueller, Zidek, & Novotny, 2001).…”