PUBLICATION
A small change with a twist ending - a single residue in EGF-CFC drives Bilaterian asymmetry
- Authors
- Truchado-García, M., Perry, K.J., Cavodeassi, F., Kenny, N.J., Henry, J.Q., Grande, C.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-221221-1
- Date
- 2022
- Source
- Molecular Biology and Evolution 40(2): (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Cavodeassi, Florencia
- Keywords
- Crepidula fornicata, Cripto, EGF-CFC, Evo-Devo, Nodal, Spiralia, Zebrafish, gene expression pattern, left-right asymmetry
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Body Patterning/genetics
- Chordata*/genetics
- Epidermal Growth Factor*/chemistry
- Epidermal Growth Factor*/genetics
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- Mutation
- Zebrafish/genetics
- PubMed
- 36537201 Full text @ Mol Bio Evol
Citation
Truchado-García, M., Perry, K.J., Cavodeassi, F., Kenny, N.J., Henry, J.Q., Grande, C. (2022) A small change with a twist ending - a single residue in EGF-CFC drives Bilaterian asymmetry. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 40(2).
Abstract
Asymmetries are essential for proper organization and function of organ systems. Genetic studies in bilaterians have shown signaling through the Nodal/Smad2 pathway plays a key, conserved role in the establishment of body asymmetries. However, while the main molecular players in the network for the establishment of left-right asymmetry (LRA) have been deeply described in deuterostomes, little is known about the regulation of Nodal signaling in spiralians. Here, we identified orthologs of the egf-cfc gene, a master regulator of the Nodal pathway in vertebrates, in several invertebrate species, which includes the first evidence of its presence in non-deuterostomes. Our functional experiments indicate that despite being present, egf-cfc does not play a role in the establishment of LRA in gastropods. However, experiments in zebrafish suggest that a single amino acid mutation in the egf-cfc gene in at least the common ancestor of chordates was the necessary step to induce a gain-of-function in LRA regulation. This study shows that the egf-cfc gene likely appeared in the ancestors of deuterostomes and protostomes, before being adopted as a master mechanism to regulate the Nodal pathway and the establishment of LRA in some lineages of deuterostomes.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping