Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 15 February 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5865, pp. 946 - 948
DOI: 10.1126/science.1151084
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

The Premetazoan Ancestry of Cadherins

Monika Abedin1 and Nicole King1,2*

Cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and signaling is essential for metazoan development and yet is absent from all other multicellular organisms. We found cadherin genes at numbers similar to those observed in complex metazoans in one of the closest single-celled relatives of metazoans, the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis. Because the evolution of metazoans from a single-celled ancestor required novel cell adhesion and signaling mechanisms, the discovery of diverse cadherins in choanoflagellates suggests that cadherins may 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

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Epithelia and integration in sponges.
S. P. Leys, S. A. Nichols, and E. D. M. Adams (2009)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 49, 167-177
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Unexpected Roles of the Na-K-ATPase and Other Ion Transporters in Cell Junctions and Tubulogenesis.
T. Krupinski and G. J. Beitel (2009)
Physiology 24, 192-201
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Choanoflagellates: Heterotrophic Nanoflagellates and Sister Group of the Metazoa.
N. King, S. L. Young, M. Abedin, M. Carr, and B. S.C. Leadbeater (2009)
CSH Protocols 2009, pdb.emo116
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Visualizing the Subcellular Localization of Actin, {beta}-Tubulin, and DNA in Monosiga brevicollis.
N. King, S. L. Young, M. Abedin, M. Carr, and B. S.C. Leadbeater (2009)
CSH Protocols 2009, pdb.prot5150
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Origins and Evolution of the Formin Multigene Family That Is Involved in the Formation of Actin Filaments.
D. Chalkia, N. Nikolaidis, W. Makalowski, J. Klein, and M. Nei (2008)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 25, 2717-2733
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
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 »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)