Tracing the evolution of nectin and nectin-like cell adhesion molecules.

ABSTRACT: Nectin and nectin-like cell adhesion molecules (collectively referred as nectin family henceforth) are known to mediate cell-cell adhesion and related functions. While current literature suggests that nectins are prevalent in vertebrates, there are no in-depth analyses regarding the evolution of nectin family as a whole. In this work, we examine the evolutionary origin of the nectin family, using selected multicellular metazoans representing diverse clades whose whole genome sequencing data is available. Our results show that this family may have appeared earlier during metazoan evolution than previously believed. Systematic analyses indicate the order in which various members of nectin family seem to have evolved, with some nectin-like molecules appearing first, followed by the evolution

SUBMITTER: Duraivelan K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7286890 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature