Roth J, Leroith D, Collier E S, Watkinson A, Lesniak M A
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1986;463:1-11. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1986.tb21498.x.
By extending the evolutionary age of the vertebrate hormones from the vertebrates to include the metazoans, we expand their phyletic distribution about 30-fold. By tracing these molecules into the unicellular range including both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, the distribution of these molecules becomes very wide indeed. While "universal" or "ubiquitous" is probably not yet warranted, their recognition as "cosmic" molecules rather than "parochial" molecules does seem appropriate. Interestingly, the breakdown of the barriers for the hormonal molecules between the vertebrates and the rest of the metazoans, between the metazoans and the unicellular organisms, between the eukaryotes and prokaryotes, or the eubacteria and archebacteria is concordant with findings in multiple other systems. For example, hemoglobin or myoglobin is present in higher plants, Protozoa, and insects. The photosynthetic proteins of higher plants have their homologues in the photosynthetic bacteria, and the heat shock proteins of eukaryotes have their equivalents in the prokaryotes as well.
通过将脊椎动物激素的进化年龄从脊椎动物扩展到后生动物，我们将它们的种系分布扩大了约30倍。通过将这些分子追溯到包括真核生物和原核生物在内的单细胞范围，这些分子的分布确实变得非常广泛。虽然称它们“普遍”或“无处不在”可能还不太恰当，但将它们视为“宇宙”分子而非“局部”分子似乎是合适的。有趣的是，脊椎动物与其他后生动物之间、后生动物与单细胞生物之间、真核生物与原核生物之间，或真细菌与古细菌之间的激素分子障碍的打破，与其他多个系统的发现是一致的。例如，血红蛋白或肌红蛋白存在于高等植物、原生动物和昆虫中。高等植物的光合蛋白在光合细菌中有同源物，真核生物的热休克蛋白在原核生物中也有对应物。
