Manzanares M, Locascio A, Nieto M A
Department of Developmental Neurobiology, Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Av. Doctor Arce 37, 28002, Madrid, Spain.
Trends Genet. 2001 Apr;17(4):178-81. doi: 10.1016/s0168-9525(01)02232-6.
The Snail family of zinc-finger transcription factors is involved not only in the development of vertebrate and invertebrate embryos, but also in tumour progression. Following the identification of eight new members, we have analysed the evolutionary history of these genes and found that they constitute a superfamily that groups two independent families, Snail and Scratch. We propose that the duplication of an ancestral gene at the time of the metazoan radiation (1000-500 Myr ago) gave rise to Snail and Scratch, and that independent duplications in protostomes and deuterostomes led to the present situation. We discuss the implications of the distinct duplication events on the acquisition of new functions.
锌指转录因子的Snail家族不仅参与脊椎动物和无脊椎动物胚胎的发育，还与肿瘤进展有关。在鉴定出八个新成员后，我们分析了这些基因的进化史，发现它们构成了一个超家族，该超家族包含两个独立的家族，即Snail和Scratch。我们提出，后生动物辐射时期（10亿至5亿年前）一个祖先基因的复制产生了Snail和Scratch，而原口动物和后口动物中的独立复制导致了目前的情况。我们讨论了不同复制事件对新功能获得的影响。
