title: How often has Lp(a) evolved?
abstract: The lipoprotein Lp(a) is associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction in humans. Lp(a) is mostly confined to primate species, due to the limited phylogenetic distribution of its distinguishing protein component, apolipoprotein(a) which is a close homolog of plasminogen. The known properties of Lp(a) are reviewed here. Many of these derive from the ability of Lp(a) to bind to the same substrates as plasminogen. A possible new animal model of Lp(a) is the hedgehog, which contains an Lp(a)-like particle that is the apparent product of independent evolution of a multi-kringle, apolipoprotein(a)-like protein by duplication and modification of portions of the hedgehog plasminogen gene.
authors.affiliation: Falk Cardiovascular Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5246, USA.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Lawn
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006364:Hedgehogs / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D017270:Lipoprotein(a) / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010958:Plasminogen / Q000235:genetics; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017270:Lipoprotein(a); D010958:Plasminogen