The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Phylogenetic analysis of the vertebrate galectin family

På svenska

Author

  • D Houzelstein
  • IR Goncalves
  • AJ Fadden
  • SS Sidhu
  • DNW Cooper
  • K Drickamer
  • Hakon Leffler
  • F Poirier

Summary, in English

Galectins form a family of structurally related carbohydrate binding proteins (lectins) that have been identified in a large variety of metazoan phyla. They are involved in many biological processes such as morphogenesis, control of cell death, immunological response, and cancer. To elucidate the evolutionary history of galectins and galectin-like proteins in chordates, we have exploited three independent lines of evidence: (i) location of galectin encoding genes (LGALS) in the human genome; (ii) exon-intron organization of galectin encoding genes; and (iii) sequence comparison of carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) of chordate galectins. Our results suggest that a duplication of a mono-CRD galectin gene gave rise to an original bi-CRD galectin gene, before or early in chordate evolution. The N-terminal and C-terminal CRDs of this original galectin subsequently diverged into two different subtypes, defined by exon-intron structure (F4-CRD and F3-CRD). We show that all vertebrate mono-CRD galectins known to date belong to either the F3- or F4-subtype. A sequence of duplication and divergence events of the different galectins in chordates is proposed.

Publishing year

2004

Language

English

Pages

1177-1187

Publication/Series

Molecular biology and evolution

Volume

21

Issue

7

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Immunology in the medical area
  • Microbiology in the medical area

Keywords

  • chordate
  • vertebrate
  • galectin
  • Lgals
  • evolution

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0737-4038