title: Notch-Mediated Cell Adhesion.
abstract: Notch family members are generally recognized as signaling molecules that control various cellular responses in metazoan organisms. Early fly studies and our mammalian studies demonstrated that Notch family members are also cell adhesion molecules; however, information on the physiological roles of this function and its origin is limited. In this review, we discuss the potential present and ancestral roles of Notch-mediated cell adhesion in order to explore its origin and the initial roles of Notch family members dating back to metazoan evolution. We hypothesize that Notch family members may have initially emerged as cell adhesion molecules in order to mediate multicellularity in the last common ancestor of metazoan organisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Immunology, School of Life Science, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Tottori 683-8503, Japan. muratako@med.tottori-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Immunology, School of Life Science, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Tottori 683-8503, Japan. shayashi@med.tottori-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shin-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayashi
keywords: Delta/Delta-like; Notch; Serrate/Jagged; cell adhesion; metazoan evolution