Discovery and evolution of novel hemerythrin genes in annelid worms.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite extensive study on hemoglobins and hemocyanins, little is known about hemerythrin (Hr) evolutionary history. Four subgroups of Hrs have been documented, including: circulating Hr (cHr), myohemerythrin (myoHr), ovohemerythrin (ovoHr), and neurohemerythrin (nHr). Annelids have the greatest diversity of oxygen carrying proteins among animals and are the only phylum in which all Hr subgroups have been documented. To examine Hr diversity in annelids and to further understand evolution of Hrs, we employed approaches to survey annelid transcriptomes in silico.

Results

Sequences of 214 putative Hr genes were identified from 44 annelid species in 40 different families and Bayesian inference revealed two major clades with strong statistical support. Notably, the top

SUBMITTER: Costa-Paiva EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5363010 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature