The X-linked splicing regulator MBNL3 has been co-opted to restrict placental growth in eutherians.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the regulatory interactions that control gene expression during the development of novel tissues is a key goal of evolutionary developmental biology. Here, we show that Mbnl3 has undergone a striking process of evolutionary specialization in eutherian mammals resulting in the emergence of a novel placental function for the gene. Mbnl3 belongs to a family of RNA-binding proteins whose members regulate multiple aspects of RNA metabolism. We find that, in eutherians, while both Mbnl3 and its paralog Mbnl2 are strongly expressed in placenta, Mbnl3 expression has been lost from nonplacental tissues in association with the evolution of a novel promoter. Moreover, Mbnl3 has undergone accelerated protein sequence evolution leading to changes in its RNA-binding specificities and cellu

SUBMITTER: Spruce T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9084524 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature