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Murthy MHS, Jasbi P, Lowe W, Kumar L, Olaosebikan M, Roger L, Yang J, Lewinski N, Daniels N, Cowen L, Klein-Seetharaman J. Insulin signaling and pharmacology in humans and in corals. PeerJ 2024; 12:e16804. [PMID: 38313028 PMCID: PMC10838073 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 02/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Once thought to be a unique capability of the Langerhans islets in the pancreas of mammals, insulin (INS) signaling is now recognized as an evolutionarily ancient function going back to prokaryotes. INS is ubiquitously present not only in humans but also in unicellular eukaryotes, fungi, worms, and Drosophila. Remote homologue identification also supports the presence of INS and INS receptor in corals where the availability of glucose is largely dependent on the photosynthetic activity of the symbiotic algae. The cnidarian animal host of corals operates together with a 20,000-sized microbiome, in direct analogy to the human gut microbiome. In humans, aberrant INS signaling is the hallmark of metabolic disease, and is thought to play a major role in aging, and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. We here would like to argue that a broader view of INS beyond its human homeostasis function may help us understand other organisms, and in turn, studying those non-model organisms may enable a novel view of the human INS signaling system. To this end, we here review INS signaling from a new angle, by drawing analogies between humans and corals at the molecular level.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Paniz Jasbi
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | - Whitney Lowe
- Departments of Chemistry & Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, United States
| | - Lokender Kumar
- Departments of Chemistry & Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, United States
| | | | - Liza Roger
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
- School of Ocean Futures, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
| | - Jinkyu Yang
- Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Nastassja Lewinski
- Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Noah Daniels
- Department of Computer Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA
| | - Lenore Cowen
- Department of Computer Science, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
| | - Judith Klein-Seetharaman
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Departments of Chemistry & Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, United States
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, United States
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