The Premetazoan Ancestry of Cadherins

doi:10.1126/science.1151084

Account Information

Guest Alerts | Access Rights | My Account | Sign In

The Premetazoan Ancestry of Cadherins

Monika Abedin¹, and Nicole King¹^,2^*

Abstract: Cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and signaling is essential formetazoan development and yet is absent from all other multicellularorganisms. We found cadherin genes at numbers similar to thoseobserved in complex metazoans in one of the closest single-celledrelatives of metazoans, the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis.Because the evolution of metazoans from a single-celled ancestorrequired novel cell adhesion and signaling mechanisms, the discoveryof diverse cadherins in choanoflagellates suggests that cadherinsmay have contributed to metazoan origins.

¹ Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
² Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, 142 Life Sciences Addition, Mail Code 3200, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nking{at}berkeley.edu

The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:

In Science Signaling

EDITORS' CHOICE
Evolution
Cadherins on the Road to Multicellularity: Laura M. Zahn (19 February 2008)
Sci. Signal. 1 (7), ec67. [DOI: 10.1126/stke.17ec67]
| Abstract »

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:

SNAREing the Basis of Multicellularity: Consequences of Protein Family Expansion during Evolution.: T. H. Kloepper, C. N. Kienle, and D. Fasshauer (2008)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 25, 2055-2068
| Abstract » | Full Text » | PDF »

From the Cover: The protist, Monosiga brevicollis, has a tyrosine kinase signaling network more elaborate and diverse than found in any known metazoan.: G. Manning, S. L. Young, W. T. Miller, and Y. Zhai (2008)
PNAS 105, 9674-9679
| Abstract » | Full Text » | PDF »