Ancestral Origin and Functional Expression of a Hyaluronic Acid Pathway Complement in Mussels.

ABSTRACT: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a key extracellular matrix component of vertebrates, where it mediates cell adhesion, immune regulation, and tissue remodeling through its interaction with specific receptors. Although HA has been detected in a few invertebrate species, the lack of fundamental components of the molecular HA pathway poses relevant objections about its functional role in these species. Mining genomic and transcriptomic data, we considered the conservation of the gene locus encoding for the extracellular link protein (XLINK) in marine mussels as well as its expression patterns. Structural and phylogenetic analyses were undertaken to evaluate possible similarities with vertebrate orthologs and to infer the origin of this gene in invertebrates. Biochemical analysis was used to qua

SUBMITTER: Rosani U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12383584 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature