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MBE Advance Access published online on February 23, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution, 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

Letter

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

Koji Fujimura1, Yohey Terai1, Naoya Ishiguro2,3, Masaki Miya4, Mutsumi Nishida2 and Norihiro Okada1

1 Graduate school of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, B-21-4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan
2 Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 1-15-1 Minamidai, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-8639, Japan
3 Department of Environmental and Biotechnological Frontier Engineering, Fukui University of Technology, 3-6-1 Gakuen-cho, Fukui 910-8505, Japan
4 Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum & Institute, Chiba, 955-2 Aoba-cho, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8682, Japan

Corresponding author: N. Okada, Graduate school of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, B-21- 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan, Tel: 81-45-924-5742, Fax: 81-45-924-5835, e-mail: nokada{at}bio.titech.ac.jp

Received for publication December 8, 2007. Revision received February 2, 2008. 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 inter-families and inter-orders, 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


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