During the past three decades, mice, zebrafish, fruit flies, and Caenorhabditis elegans have been the primary model organisms used for the study of various biological phenomena. These models have also been adopted and developed to investigate the physiological roles of carbonic anhydrases (CAs) and carbonic anhydrase-related proteins (CARPs). These proteins belong to eight CA families and are identified by Greek letters: α, β, γ, δ, ζ, η, θ, and ι. Studies using model organisms have focused on two CA families, α-CAs and β-CAs, which are expressed in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms with species-specific distribution patterns and unique functions. This review covers the biological roles of CAs and CARPs in light of investigations performed in model organisms. Functional studies demonstrate that CAs are not only linked to the regulation of pH homeostasis, the classical role of CAs but also contribute to a plethora of previously undescribed functions.

中文翻译：

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后生动物模型生物中的碳酸酐酶：分子、机制和生理学

在过去的三十年里，老鼠、斑马鱼、果蝇和秀丽隐杆线虫一直是用于研究各种生物现象的主要模式生物。这些模型也已被采用和开发来研究碳酸酐酶 (CAs) 和碳酸酐酶相关蛋白 (CARPs) 的生理作用。这些蛋白质属于八个 CA 家族，由希腊字母标识：α、β、γ、δ、ζ、η、θ 和 ι。使用模式生物的研究集中在两个 CA 家族，α-CA 和 β-CA，它们在具有物种特异性分布模式和独特功能的原核和真核生物中均有表达。根据在模式生物中进行的研究，本综述涵盖了 CA 和 CARPs 的生物学作用。