title: Cross-species conservation of SEL1L, a human pancreas-specific expressing gene.
abstract: SEL1L is a recently cloned and organ-specific expressing human gene whose function is still at an embryonic stage but displays several interesting characteristics, among which a remarkable cross-species conservation. During evolution, the gene structural complexity increased, suggesting a diversification of its function; however, several amino acid motifs remain perfectly conserved from the bacteria to the human protein. SEL1L is the human ortholog of the C. elegans gene sel-1; the latter is implicated in the negative regulation of LIN-12/GLP-1/Notch receptor proteins. These receptor proteins play fundamental roles in signal transduction pathways and are key players in cell fate determination during the development of various organs. Studies in model organisms, such as C. elegans, helped to illuminate fundamental mechanisms involved in normal cellular functions and human diseases. This paper describes the conserved nature of SEL1L across a wide range of species suggesting, that the encoded protein most likely exerts a very important biological function; it may belong to a subclass of genes considered to be "essential."
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Technologies-CNR, Segrate, Milano, Italy. biunno@itba.mi.cnr.it
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Biunno
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Castiglioni
authors.forename: Igor B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Rogozin
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: DeBellis
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Malferrari
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010179:Pancreas / Q000502:physiology*; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; C117384:SEL1L protein, human