nme gene family evolutionary history reveals pre-metazoan origins and high conservation between humans and the sea anemone, nematostella vectensisnme基因家族进化历史揭示pre-metazoan起源和高保护人类和海葵,nematostella vectensis.pdfVIP

Nme Gene Family Evolutionary History Reveals Pre- Metazoan Origins and High Conservation between Humans and the Sea Anemone, Nematostella vectensis 1,2 3 1 Thomas Desvignes , Pierre Pontarotti , Julien Bobe * ´ 1 UMR 6632/IFR48, Universite de Provence Aix Marseille 1/CNRS, F-13000, Marseille, France, 2 IFREMER, LALR, F-34250, Palavas les flots, France, 3 UMR 6632/IFR48, ´ Universite de Provence Aix Marseille 1/CNRS, F-13000, Marseille, France Abstract Background: The Nme gene family is involved in multiple physiological and pathological processes such as cellular differentiation, development, metastatic dissemination, and cilia functions. Despite the known importance of Nme genes and their use as clinical markers of tumor aggressiveness, the associated cellular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Over the last 20 years, several non-vertebrate model species have been used to investigate Nme functions. However, the evolutionary history of the family remains poorly understood outside the vertebrate lineage. The aim of the study was thus to elucidate the evolutionary history of the Nme gene family in Metazoans. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using a total of 21 eukaryote species including 14 metazoans, the evolutionary history of Nme genes was reconstructed in the metazoan lineage. We demonstrated that the complexity of the Nme gene family, initially thought to be restricted to chordates, was also shared by the metazoan ancestor. We also provide evidence suggesting that the complexity of the family is mainly a eukaryotic innovation, with the exception of Nme8 that is likely to be a choanoflagellate/metazoan innovation. Highly conserved gene structure, genomic linkage, and protein do