title: Globins in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Extensive in silico search of the genome of Caenorhabditis elegans revealed the presence of 33 genes coding for globins that are all transcribed. These globins are very diverse in gene and protein structure and are localized in a variety of cells, mostly neurons. The large number of C. elegans globin genes is assumed to be the result of multiple evolutionary duplication and radiation events. Processes of subfunctionalization and diversification probably led to their cell-specific expression patterns and fixation into the genome. To date, four globins (GLB-1, GLB-5, GLB-6, and GLB-26) have been partially characterized physicochemically, and the crystallographic structure of two of them (GLB-1 and GLB-6) was solved. In this article, a three-dimensional model was designed for the other two globins (GLB-5 and GLB-26), and overlays of the globins were constructed to highlight the structural diversity among them. It is clear that although they all share the globin fold, small variations in the three-dimensional structure have major implications on their ligand-binding properties and possibly their function. We also review here all the information available so far on the globin family of C. elegans and suggest potential functions.
authors: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors: Lesley
authors: L
authors: Tilleman
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Germani
authors: Sasha
authors: S
authors: De Henau
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Geuens
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Hoogewijs
authors: Bart P
authors: BP
authors: Braeckman
authors: Jacques R
authors: JR
authors: Vanfleteren
authors: Luc
authors: L
authors: Moens
authors: Sylvia
authors: S
authors: Dewilde
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005914:Globins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D005914:Globins