title: Evolution of enzyme cascades from embryonic development to blood coagulation.
abstract: Recent delineation of the serine protease cascade controlling dorsal-ventral patterning during Drosophila embryogenesis allows this cascade to be compared with those controlling clotting and complement in vertebrates and invertebrates. The identification of discrete markers of serine protease evolution has made it possible to reconstruct the probable chronology of enzyme evolution and to gain new insights into functional linkages among the cascades. Here, it is proposed that a single ancestral developmental/immunity cascade gave rise to the protostome and deuterostome developmental, clotting and complement cascades. Extensive similarities suggest that these cascades were built by adding enzymes from the bottom of the cascade up and from similar macromolecular building blocks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, Box 8231, St Louis, MO 63110-1093, USA.
authors.forename: Maxwell M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Krem
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Cera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000235:genetics*; D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004798:Enzymes; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases