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Functional divergence of paralogous transcription factors supported the evolution of biomineralization in echinoderms
eLife ( IF 7.7 ) Pub Date : 2017-11-20 , DOI: 10.7554/elife.32728
Jian Ming Khor,Charles A Ettensohn

Alx1 is a pivotal transcription factor in a gene regulatory network that controls skeletogenesis throughout the echinoderm phylum. We performed a structure-function analysis of sea urchin Alx1 using a rescue assay and identified a novel, conserved motif (Domain 2) essential for skeletogenic function. The paralogue of Alx1, Alx4, was not functionally interchangeable with Alx1, but insertion of Domain 2 conferred robust skeletogenic function on Alx4. We used cross-species expression experiments to show that Alx1 proteins from distantly related echinoderms are not interchangeable, although the sequence and function of Domain 2 are highly conserved. We also found that Domain 2 is subject to alternative splicing and provide evidence that this domain was originally gained through exon extension. Our findings show that a gene duplication event permitted the functional specialization of a transcription factor through changes in exon-intron organization and thereby supported the evolution of a major morphological novelty.



中文翻译:

旁系转录因子的功能差异支持棘皮动物生物矿化的发展。

Alx1是控制整个棘皮动物门骨骼形成的基因调控网络中的关键转录因子。我们使用救援测定法对海胆Alx1进行了结构功能分析,并确定了对骨骼生成功能必不可少的新型保守基序(域2)。Alx1的旁系同源物Alx4与Alx1在功能上不可互换,但是域2的插入赋予Alx4强大的骨骼生成功能。我们使用跨物种的表达实验表明,尽管域2的序列和功能高度保守,但来自远缘棘皮动物的Alx1蛋白却不可互换。我们还发现域2受到其他剪接的影响,并提供证据证明该域最初是通过外显子延伸获得的。

更新日期:2017-11-20
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