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Evolutionary selection pressure and family relationships among connexin genes

  • Véronique Cruciani und Svein-Ole Mikalsen
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 5. März 2007
Biological Chemistry
Aus der Zeitschrift Band 388 Heft 3

Abstract

We suggest an extension of connexin orthology relationships across the major vertebrate lineages. We first show that the conserved domains of mammalian connexins (encoding the N-terminus, four transmembrane domains and two extracellular loops) are subjected to a considerably more strict selection pressure than the full-length sequences or the variable domains (the intracellular loop and C-terminal tail). Therefore, the conserved domains are more useful for the study of family relationships over larger evolutionary distances. The conserved domains of connexins were collected from chicken, Xenopus tropicalis, zebrafish, pufferfish, green spotted pufferfish, Ciona intestinalis and Halocynthia pyriformis (two tunicates). A total of 305 connexin sequences were included in this analysis. Phylogenetic trees were constructed, from which the orthologies and the presumed evolutionary relationships between the sequences were deduced. The tunicate connexins studied had the closest, but still distant, relationships to vertebrate connexin36, 39.2, 43.4, 45 and 47. The main structure in the connexin family known from mammals pre-dates the divergence of bony fishes, but some additional losses and gains of connexin sequences have occurred in the evolutionary lineages of subsequent vertebrates. Thus, the connexin gene family probably originated in the early evolution of chordates, and underwent major restructuring with regard to gene and subfamily structures (including the number of genes in each subfamily) during early vertebrate evolution.

Keywords: gap junctions; gene family; genome databases; species-specific genes
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Corresponding author

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Published Online: 2007-03-05
Published in Print: 2007-03-01

©2007 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York

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https://doi.org/10.1515/BC.2007.028
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
gap junctions; gene family; genome databases; species-specific genes

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Supplementary material to the paper “Evolutionary selection pressure and family relationships among connexin genes”
  2. Evolutionary selection pressure and family relationships among connexin genes
  3. Characterization of the large subunit of EcoHK31I methyltransferase by structural modeling and mutagenesis
  4. Purification, characterization, and molecular gene cloning of an antifungal protein from Ginkgo biloba seeds
  5. Maximal Ca2+i stimulation of cardiac Na+/Ca2+ exchange requires simultaneous alkalinization and binding of PtdIns-4,5-P2 to the exchanger
  6. A highly conserved protein secreted by the prostate cancer cell line PC-3 is expressed in benign and malignant prostate tissue
  7. Properties and partial purification of sialate-O-acetyltransferase from bovine submandibular glands
  8. Raft association and lipid droplet targeting of flotillins are independent of caveolin
  9. On the presence of C2-ceramide in mammalian tissues: possible relationship to etherphospholipids and phosphorylation by ceramide kinase
  10. Specific inhibition of interleukin-13 activity by a recombinant human single-chain immunoglobulin domain directed against the IL-13 receptor α1 chain
  11. Effects of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) on the activities of rheumatoid arthritis-associated cathepsins K and S
  12. Compartmentalised expression of meprin in small intestinal mucosa: enhanced expression in lamina propria in coeliac disease
  13. Human dipeptidyl peptidase III acts as a post-proline-cleaving enzyme on endomorphins
  14. Transgenic mouse brains for the evaluation and quality control of BSE tests
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