title: The HMGB protein gene family in zebrafish: Evolution and embryonic expression patterns.
abstract: The High-Mobility Group Box (HMGB) proteins are highly abundant proteins with both nuclear and extracellular roles in key biological processes. In mammals, three family members are present: HMGB1, HMGB2 and HMGB3. We characterized the HMGB family in zebrafish and report a detailed phylogenetic analysis of HMGB proteins. The B1, B2, and B3 subfamilies are present in cartilaginous fish, bony fish, and tetrapods, while jawless fish sequences emerge as basal to the gene family expansion. Two co-orthologs of each mammalian HMGB gene are present in zebrafish. All six zebrafish hmgb genes are maternally expressed, but huge differences in expression levels exist during embryonic development. The hmgb2a/hmgb2b genes are the most highly expressed, while hmgb3b is expressed at the lowest level. Remarkably, hmgb3 genes are not present in fugu, medaka, Tetraodon and stickleback. Our analysis highlights substantial overlaps, but also subtle differences and specificities in the expression patterns of the zebrafish hmgb genes.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari e Biotecnologie, Universita' degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moleri
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cappellano
authors.forename: Germano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gaudenzi
authors.forename: Solei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cermenati
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cotelli
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Horner
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beltrame
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D024002:HMGB Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D024002:HMGB Proteins