A Broad Genome Survey Reveals Widespread Presence of Secretoglobin Genes in Squamate and Archosaur Reptiles that Flowered into Diversity in Mammals.

ABSTRACT: Secretoglobins (SCGBs) are a superfamily of small, dimeric, cytokine-like proteins found originally in the reproductive tracts and airways of mammals. Most SCGB research has focused on respiratory diseases in humans and laboratory animal models but knowledge of their biological functions is sparse. We report here a broad survey of Scgbs, the genes that encode SCGBs, in animal genomes. We tested the view that they are uniquely mammalian in origin and distribution, hoping that understanding their distribution would shed light on their evolutionary history and perhaps point to putative biological functions. Rather than being uniquely mammalian, we found many different SCGBs in turtles, crocodilians, lizards, and birds, suggesting they existed in the Carboniferous Period (∼320 MYA) when the sa

SUBMITTER: Karn RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11884772 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature