Integrins during evolution: Evolutionary trees and model organisms |
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Authors: | Mark S. Johnson Konstantin Denessiouk Donald Gullberg |
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Affiliation: | a Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacy, Åbo Academy University, Turku, Finland b Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway c Department of Biochemistry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland |
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Abstract: | The integrins form a large family of cell adhesion receptors. All multicellular animals express integrins, indicating that the family evolved relatively early in the history of metazoans, and homologous sequences of the component domains of integrin α and β subunits are seen in prokaryotes. Some integrins, however, seem to be much younger. For example, the αI domain containing integrins, including collagen receptors and leukocyte integrins, have been found in chordates only. Here, we will discuss what conclusions can be drawn about integrin function by studying the evolutionary conservation of integrins. We will also look at how studying integrins in organisms such as the fruit fly and mouse has helped our understanding of integrin evolution-function relationships. As an illustration of this, we will summarize the current understanding of integrin involvement in skeletal muscle formation. |
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Keywords: | Integrin Evolutionary tree Model organism Muscle formation Human Chordate Invertebrate Metazoan |
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