Unraveling the ancestral function of genes relevant to animal multicellularity.
The aim is to unravel the ancestral function of the cell-signaling and cell-adhesion genes that are crucial for animal development. By comparative genomic analyses we have identified some homologs of genes relevant to animal multicellularity and developmennt (e.g. integrins, receptor tyrosine kinases, T-box genes) in Capsaspora. The next step is to understand what roles are those genes playing in the unicellular Capsaspora and how these genes were later on co-opted to the new functions in metazoans. By elucidating the “ancestral function” of those genes, we will provide significant insights into the role that cell-signaling and cell-adhesion genes played in the origin of Metazoa.
Current collaborators:
Duojia Pan, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
Andrew J. Roger, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
José Luis González Skarmeta, CABD, Sevilla, Spain.
Maja Adamska, Sars Centre, Bergen, Norway.
Todd Miller, Stony Brook University, USA.
Recent publications:
Arnau Sebé-Pedrós, Yonggang Zheng, Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo & Duojia Pan. (2012)
Premetazoan origin of the Hippo signaling pathway.
Cell Reports 1(1): 13-20. doi:10.1016/j.cel- rep.2011.11.004
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