Larhammar Dan, Dreborg Susanne, Larsson Tomas A, Sundström Görel
Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Apr;1163:451-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2008.03672.x.
The opioid receptor family in mammals has four members called delta, kappa, mu, and NOP (the nociceptin/orphanin receptor). We show here that they arose from a common ancestral gene through quadruplication of a large chromosomal region, presumably in the two basal vertebrate tetraploidizations. The four opioid peptide precursor genes have a more complicated evolutionary history involving chromosomal rearrangements but nevertheless seem to have arisen in the same time period as the receptors. Thus the system of opioid peptides and receptors was already established approximately 450 Ma at the dawn of gnathostome evolution.
哺乳动物中的阿片受体家族有四个成员，分别称为δ、κ、μ和NOP（痛敏肽/孤啡肽受体）。我们在此表明，它们通过一个大染色体区域的四倍化从一个共同的祖先基因演化而来，推测发生在两次基础脊椎动物四倍体化过程中。四种阿片肽前体基因有着更复杂的进化史，涉及染色体重排，但似乎与受体在同一时期出现。因此，阿片肽和受体系统在大约4.5亿年前有颌类动物进化之初就已建立。
