Gene study offers new clues to vertebrate evolution
University of St Andrews scientists have cast new light on how vertebrate animals may have emerged.
Their paper, published in BMC Biology, focused on the_major signalling pathways that_all animal cells use_to_communicate with each other._
The pathways, vital_to development controlling embryo and organ development,_are targets for both mutations_and_drug development, with proteins at their base directing_cells_into specific responses and gene expression.__
Creating_new_gene_sequencing data in_sea_squirts, a lamprey and a frog species, the researchers found that those_genes responsible for signalling output proteins_had_evolved in a distinctive way._
Using_long-molecule DNA sequencing for the first time to study the genes expressed in_the three_animals enabled_researchers_to characterise_the range of the transcripts_and_proteins produced from these genes._
Contrasted with the_invertebrate_sea squirt, the vertebrate lamprey and frog_made_higher numbers of different_forms_of proteins from_the_individual_signalling output_genes,_when compared other types of genes.___
It is likely_these proteins_accounted to a significant_degree_for the greater complexity of vertebrate species, said the researchers.__
Study lead author professor David Ferrier from Glasgow School of Biology, said:_“It_was very_surprising_to us_to see_how this small selection of very particular genes stands out in the way that they are behaving compared to any other sort of gene we looked at.
“It will be exciting to determine how these various different protein forms work in distinct ways to generate the diversity of cell types we now see in vertebrates.”_
In addition to the clues they provide for vertebrate evolution, it is hoped that the protein_variations could assist improved understanding_of how_proteins and_pathways might be manipulated_for disease management therapies._
Pic: Juvenile Ciona sea squirt (Shunsuke Sogabe)
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