Recurrent Independent Pseudogenization Events of the Sperm Fertilization Gene ZP3r in Apes and Monkeys

Many reproductive proteins show signatures of rapid evolution through sequence divergence and duplication. These features of reproductive genes may complicate the detection of orthologs across taxa, making it difficult to connect studies in model systems to human biology. In mice, ZP3r/sp56 is a binding partner to the egg coat protein ZP3 and may mediate induction of the acrosome reaction, a crucial step in fertilization. In rodents, ZP3r, as a member of the Regulators of Complement Activation cluster, is surrounded by paralogs, some of which have been shown to be evolving under positive selection. Although primate egg coats also contain ZP3, sequence divergence paired with paralogous relationships with neighboring genes has complicated the accurate identification of the human ZP3r ortholog. Here, we phylogenetically and syntenically resolve that the human ortholog of ZP3r is the pseudogene C4BPAP1. We investigate the evolution of this gene within primates. We observe independent pseudogenization events of ZP3r in all Apes with the exception of Orangutans, and independent pseudogenization events in many monkey species. ZP3r in both primates that retain ZP3r and in rodents contains positively selected sites. We hypothesize that redundant mechanisms mediate ZP3 recognition in mammals and ZP3r’s relative importance to ZP recognition varies across species.