Parallel evolution of nitric oxide signaling: diversity of synthesis and memory pathways.

ABSTRACT: The origin of NO signaling can be traceable back to the origin of life with the large scale of parallel evolution of NO synthases (NOSs). Inducible-like NOSs may be the most basal prototype of all NOSs and that neuronal-like NOS might have evolved several times from this prototype. Other enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways for NO synthesis have been discovered using reduction of nitrites, an alternative source of NO. Diverse synthetic mechanisms can co-exist within the same cell providing a complex NO-oxygen microenvironment tightly coupled with cellular energetics. The dissection of multiple sources of NO formation is crucial in analysis of complex biological processes such as neuronal integration and learning mechanisms when NO can act as a volume transmitter within memory-forming circu

SUBMITTER: Moroz LL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4041873 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature