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MBE Advance Access originally published online on February 23, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2008 25(5):797-800; doi:10.1093/molbev/msn041
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Letters

Heterotypy in the N-Terminal Region of Growth/Differentiation Factor 5 (GDF5) Mature Protein during Teleost Evolution

Koji Fujimura*, Yohey Terai*, Naoya Ishiguro{dagger},{ddagger}, Masaki Miya§, Mutsumi Nishida{dagger} and Norihiro Okada*

* Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan
{dagger} Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
{ddagger} Department of Environmental and Biotechnological Frontier Engineering, Fukui University of Technology, Fukui, Japan
§ Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, Chiba, Japan

E-mail: nokada{at}bio.titech.ac.jp.

Accepted for publication February 4, 2008.

Heterotypy is now recognized as a generative force in the formation of new proteins through modification of existing proteins. We report that heterotypy in the N-terminal region of the mature growth/differentiation factor 5 (GDF5) protein occurred during evolution of teleosts. N-terminal length variation of GDF5 was found among teleost interfamilies and interorders but not within teleost families or among tetrapods. We further show that increase of proline and glutamine to the N-terminal region of mature GDF5 occurred in Eurypterygii, the higher lineage of teleosts. Because the basic amino acids, believed to control diffusion, are conserved in this region across all species examined, we suggest that the N-terminal elongation of the mature GDF5 protein during evolution has altered the protein diffusion in Eurypterygii, leading to high concentrations of the protein in the joint of the pharyngeal skeleton, the location of cartilage formation during development.

Key Words: growth/differentiation factor 5 (GDF5) • teleosts • heterotypy • Eurypterygii

Naoko Takezaki, Associate Editor


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