Biscotti MA, Barucca M, Carducci F, Canapa A. New Perspectives on the Evolutionary History of Vitellogenin Gene Family in Vertebrates.
Genome Biol Evol 2018;
10:2709-2715. [PMID:
30239716 PMCID:
PMC6185446 DOI:
10.1093/gbe/evy206]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/14/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Vitellogenin (Vtg) is a glycolipophosphoprotein produced by oviparous and ovoviviparous species and is the precursor protein of the yolk, an essential nutrient reserve for embryonic development and early larval stages. Vtg is encoded by a family of paralog genes whose number varies in the different vertebrate lineages. Its evolution has been the subject of considerable analyses but it remains still unclear. In this work, microsyntenic and phylogenetic analyses were performed in order to increase our knowledge on the evolutionary history of this gene family in vertebrates. Our results support the hypothesis that the vitellogenin gene family is expanded from two genes both present at the beginning of vertebrate radiation through multiple independent duplication events occurred in the diverse lineages.
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