Coulier F, Pontarotti P, Roubin R, Hartung H, Goldfarb M, Birnbaum D
Laboratoire d'Oncologie Moléculaire, U.119 INSERM, 27 Bd. Leï Roure, 13009 Marseille, France.
J Mol Evol. 1997 Jan;44(1):43-56. doi: 10.1007/pl00006120.
FGFs (fibroblast growth factors) play major roles in a number of developmental processes. Recent studies of several human disorders, and concurrent analysis of gene knock-out and properties of the corresponding recombinant proteins have shown that FGFs and their receptors are prominently involved in the development of the skeletal system in mammals. We have compared the sequences of the nine known mammalian FGFs, FGFs from other vertebrates, and three additional sequences that we extracted from existing databases: two human FGF sequences that we tentatively designated FGF10 and FGF11, and an FGF sequence from Caenorhabditis elegans. Similarly, we have compared the sequences of the four FGF receptor paralogs found in chordates with four non-chordate FGF receptors, including one recently identified in C. elegans. The comparison of FGF and FGF receptor sequences in vertebrates and nonvertebrates shows that the FGF and FGF receptor families have evolved through phases of gene duplications, one of which may have coincided with the emergence of vertebrates, in relation with their new system of body scaffold.
成纤维细胞生长因子（FGFs）在许多发育过程中发挥着重要作用。最近对几种人类疾病的研究，以及对基因敲除和相应重组蛋白特性的同步分析表明，FGFs及其受体在哺乳动物骨骼系统的发育中起着重要作用。我们比较了已知的九种哺乳动物FGFs的序列、其他脊椎动物的FGFs，以及我们从现有数据库中提取的另外三个序列：两个我们暂定命名为FGF10和FGF11的人类FGF序列，以及一个来自秀丽隐杆线虫的FGF序列。同样，我们将在脊索动物中发现的四种FGF受体旁系同源物的序列与四种非脊索动物FGF受体的序列进行了比较，其中包括最近在秀丽隐杆线虫中鉴定出的一种。脊椎动物和非脊椎动物中FGF和FGF受体序列的比较表明，FGF和FGF受体家族是通过基因复制阶段进化而来的，其中一个阶段可能与脊椎动物的出现以及它们新的身体支架系统同时发生。
