title: Phylogenomic analysis of transferrin family from animals and plants.
abstract: Transferrins have been identified in animals and green algae, and they consist of a family of evolutionarily related proteins that play a central role in iron transport, immunity, growth and differentiation. This study assessed the transferrin genes among 100 genomes from a wide range of animal and plant kingdoms. The results showed that putative transferrins were widespread in animals, but their gene quantity and type differ greatly between animal groups. Generally, Mammalia possess abundant transferrin genes, whereas Trematoda contain few ones. Melanotransferrin and serotransferrin are widely distributed in vertebrates, while melanotransferrin-like and transferrin-like 1 are frequent in invertebrates. However, only a few plant species detected putative transferrins, and a novel transferrin member was first uncovered in Angiospermae and Pteridophyta. The structural comparison among transferrin family members revealed seven very well-repeated and conserved characteristic motifs, despite a considerable variation in the overall sequences. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that gene duplication, gene loss and horizontal transfer contributed to the diversification of transferrin family members, and their inferred evolutionary scenario was proposed. These findings help to the understanding of transferrin distribution, characteristic motifs and residues, and evolutionary process.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei Province 430070, China.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province 430064, China.
authors.forename: Mu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei Province 430070, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei Province 430070, China.
authors.forename: Changyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province 430064, China. Electronic address: msqlfe@163.com.
authors.forename: Shuqi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei Province 430070, China. Electronic address: chenwanping@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wanping
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016678:Genome; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D014168:Transferrin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014168:Transferrin
keywords: Iron-binding; Lactoferrin; Melanotransferrin; Plant transferrin; Serotransferrin; Transferrin