Mbogo Ivan, Kawano Chihiro, Nakamura Ryotaro, Tsuchiya Yuko, Villar-Briones Alejandro, Hirao Yoshitoshi, Yasuoka Yuuri, Hayakawa Eisuke, Tomii Kentaro, Watanabe Hiroshi
Evolutionary Neurobiology Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan.
Sysmex Corporation, Ltd. 1-5-1, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 651-0073, Japan.
Zoological Lett. 2024 Dec 2;10(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s40851-024-00243-y.
Beta-catenin is essential for diverse biological processes, such as body axis determination and cell differentiation, during metazoan embryonic development. Beta-catenin is thought to exert such functions through complexes formed with various proteins. Although β-catenin complex proteins have been identified in several bilaterians, little is known about the structural and functional properties of β-catenin complexes in early metazoan evolution. In the present study, we performed a comparative analysis of β-catenin sequences in nonbilaterian lineages that diverged early in metazoan evolution. We also carried out transphyletic function experiments with β-catenin from nonbilaterian metazoans using developing Xenopus embryos, including secondary axis induction in embryos and proteomic analysis of β-catenin protein complexes. Comparative functional analysis of nonbilaterian β-catenins demonstrated sequence characteristics important for β-catenin functions, and the deep origin and evolutionary conservation of the cadherin-catenin complex. Proteins that co-immunoprecipitated with β-catenin included several proteins conserved among metazoans. These data provide new insights into the conserved repertoire of β-catenin complexes.
β-连环蛋白对于后生动物胚胎发育过程中的多种生物学过程至关重要，如体轴确定和细胞分化。β-连环蛋白被认为是通过与各种蛋白质形成复合物来发挥这些功能的。尽管在几种两侧对称动物中已鉴定出β-连环蛋白复合蛋白，但对于后生动物早期进化过程中β-连环蛋白复合物的结构和功能特性却知之甚少。在本研究中，我们对后生动物进化早期分化的非两侧对称动物谱系中的β-连环蛋白序列进行了比较分析。我们还利用发育中的非洲爪蟾胚胎对非两侧对称后生动物的β-连环蛋白进行了跨系统发育功能实验，包括胚胎中的次级轴诱导以及β-连环蛋白蛋白复合物的蛋白质组学分析。对非两侧对称动物β-连环蛋白的比较功能分析揭示了对β-连环蛋白功能重要的序列特征，以及钙黏蛋白-连环蛋白复合物的深层起源和进化保守性。与β-连环蛋白共免疫沉淀的蛋白质包括后生动物中保守的几种蛋白质。这些数据为β-连环蛋白复合物的保守组成提供了新的见解。
