MBE Advance Access originally published online on June 27, 2003
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Mol. Biol. Evol. 20(9):1521-1525. 2003
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msg164
© 2003 by the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. ISSN: 0737-4038
Globin Genes Are Present in Ciona intestinalis

* Institute of Molecular Genetics
Institute of Zoology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
E-mail: hankeln{at}uni-mainz.de.
The key position of the Ciona intestinalis basal to the vertebrate phylogenetic tree brings up the question of which respiratory proteins are used by the tunicate to facilitate oxygen transport and storage. The publication of the Ciona draft genome sequence suggests that globin genes are completely missing and thatlike some molluscs and arthropodsthe sea squirt uses hemocyanin instead of hemoglobin for respiration. However, we report here the presence and expression of at least four distinct globin gene/protein sequences in Ciona. This finding is in agreement with the ancestral phylogeny of the vertebrate globins. Moreover, it seems likely that the Ciona hemocyanin-like sequences have enzymatic instead of respiratory functions.
Key Words: Ciona intestinalis hemoglobin neuroglobin cytoglobin hemocyanin intron
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