Emergence, development and diversification of the TGF-beta signalling pathway within the animal kingdom.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The question of how genomic processes, such as gene duplication, give rise to co-ordinated organismal properties, such as emergence of new body plans, organs and lifestyles, is of importance in developmental and evolutionary biology. Herein, we focus on the diversification of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) pathway -- one of the fundamental and versatile metazoan signal transduction engines.

Results

After an investigation of 33 genomes, we show that the emergence of the TGF-beta pathway coincided with appearance of the first known animal species. The primordial pathway repertoire consisted of four Smads and four receptors, similar to those observed in the extant genome of the early diverging tablet animal (Trichoplax adhaerens). We subsequently retr

SUBMITTER: Huminiecki L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2657120 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature