Conservation of a DPP/BMP signaling pathway in the nonbilateral cnidarian Acropora millepora.
Members of the TGF-beta superfamily of signaling molecules are widespread in metazoans, but the evolutionary origin of particular subclasses of signaling mechanisms is poorly defined. The DPP/BMP class, for example, is implicated in dorsal-ventral patterning, neural patterning, and limb development. Here we report the presence of several components of a DPP/BMP-specific signal transduction cascade in a nonbilateral animal, the coral Acropora millepora. The discovery of these components, a putative type I receptor and two putative receptor-activated Smads, suggests that DPP/BMP signaling predates both dorsal-ventral pattern formation and limb development. We postulate that an ancestral role in neuroepithelial patterning may account for the high level of conservation between DPP/BMP signaling components found in this nonbilateral animal and the more complex triploblastic organisms of the arthropod and chordate phyla.
Samuel
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G
Centre for the Molecular Genetics of Development and Dept. of Molecular Biosciences, Adelaide University, SA, Australia.
Miller
D
D
Saint
R
R
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003063:Cnidaria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015723:Gene Library; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051785:Smad Proteins; D051902:Smad5 Protein; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism
D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D051785:Smad Proteins; D051902:Smad5 Protein; D015534:Trans-Activators; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta