title: Identification of a Hydra homologue of the beta-catenin/plakoglobin/armadillo gene family.
abstract: The beta-catenin/plakoglobin/armadillo gene family encodes a group of highly conserved proteins which play important roles in cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and in signal transduction mechanisms involved in regulating development. This gene family previously had been isolated only from higher metazoans. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of a beta-catenin (beta Ctn) homologue from Hydra magnipapillata, a diploblastic lower metazoan. Comparison of the putative amino acid (aa) sequence of Hydra beta Ctn, with its homologues in higher metazoans, shows that a repeating 42-aa motif present in its central domain is highly conserved throughout the metazoa. This suggests that beta Ctn appeared very early in metazoan evolution, possibly when primitive multicellular animals started to form epithelial cell layers.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Hobmayer@zoology.uni-frankfurt.d400.de
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hobmayer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hatta
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Holstein
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D051180:Desmoplakins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D006829:Hydra / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin; D051185:gamma Catenin
chemical_list: D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D051180:Desmoplakins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin; D051185:gamma Catenin