PUBLICATION

The fifth class of Gα proteins

Authors
Oka, Y., Saraiva, L.R., Kwan, Y.Y., and Korsching, S.I.
ID
ZDB-PUB-090204-6
Date
2009
Source
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America   106(5): 1484-1489 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Korsching, Sigrun, Saraiva, Luis
Keywords
Danio rerio, evolution, metazoan, heterotrimeric G protein, birth-and-death mode
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Conserved Sequence
  • GTP-Binding Proteins/chemistry
  • GTP-Binding Proteins/classification*
  • GTP-Binding Proteins/genetics
  • Gene Expression
  • Humans
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
PubMed
19164534 Full text @ Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
Abstract
All alpha-subunits of vertebrate heterotrimeric G proteins have been classified into 4 major classes, Gs, Gi, Gq, and G12, which possess orthologs already in sponges, one of the earliest animal phyla to evolve. Here we report the discovery of the fifth class of Galpha protein, Gv, ancient like the other 4 classes, with members already in sponges, and encoded by 1-2 gnav genes per species. Gv is conserved across the animal kingdom including vertebrates, arthropods, mollusks, and annelids, but has been lost in many lineages such as nematodes, fruit fly, jawless fish, and tetrapods, concordant with a birth-and-death mode of evolution. All Gv proteins contain 5 G-box motifs characteristic of GTP-binding proteins and the expected acylation consensus sites in the Nterminal region. Sixty amino acid residues are conserved only among Gv, suggesting that they may constitute interaction sites for Gv-specific partner molecules. Overall Gv homology is high, on average 70% amino acid identity among vertebrate family members.The d(N)/d(S) analysis of teleost gnav genes reveals evolution under stringent negative selection. Genomic structure of vertebrate gnav genes is well conserved and different from those of the other 4 classes. The predicted full ORF of zebrafish gnav1 was confirmed by isolation from cDNA. RT-PCR analysis showed broad expression of gnav1 in adult zebrafish and in situ hybridization demonstrated a more restricted expression in larval tissues including the developing inner ear. The discovery of this fifth class of Galpha proteins changes our understanding of G protein evolution.
Genes / Markers
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping