The Notch pathway in Metazoa: a comparative analysis across cnidarians and beyond.

ABSTRACT: The Notch signalling pathway is a conserved regulator of cellular processes, including differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis, across Metazoa. While its roles in bilaterians are well-characterized, the evolutionary history and functional diversification of Notch signalling in early branching metazoans, including cnidarians and parasitic cnidarians, myxozoans, remain underexplored. This study examines the presence and structural diversity of Notch pathway components across early diverging metazoan lineages, with a particular focus on Myxozoa-parasitic cnidarians characterized by extreme morphological and genomic reduction. Comparative analyses of 58 metazoan species revealed broad conservation of core Notch components, alongside losses in ctenophores, placozoans, poriferans, and cnid

SUBMITTER: Lovy A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12166595 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature