| Functional |
"Although other forces and scenarios cannot be ruled out (33), an intriguing hypothesis is that the loss enabled the survival of Odontoceti ancestors from a virus that took advantage of Mx function, possibly through direct interaction with the Mx proteins [e.g., human individuals and cells that inactivate the CCR5 gene are resistant to HIV-1 infection (34)], or through mimicry of the Mx proteins (35)." |
10.1073/pnas.1501844112 |
| Mutation Description |
"For Mx1, a large deletion spanning exons 10–12 is shared between bottlenose dolphin, orca, and Yangtze River dolphin, yet this region is still present in sperm whale." |
10.1073/pnas.1501844112 |
| Methodology & Validation |
"Frameshift mutations and stop codons were validated by manually inspecting multiple alignments of each exon across human, cow, and the five cetaceans." |
10.1073/pnas.1501844112 |
| Timing of Loss |
"We trace the likely loss event for both proteins to soon after the divergence of Odontocetes and Mystocetes (baleen whales) ∼33–37 Mya." |
10.1073/pnas.1501844112 |