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Evolution of RNA-binding proteins in animals: insights from genome-wide analysis in the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica.
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Edité par CCSD ; Oxford University Press (OUP) -
International audience. RNA-binding proteins are key players in various biological processes, most notably regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Although many RNA-binding proteins have been carefully studied in model organisms, very few studies have addressed the evolution of these proteins at the scale of the animal kingdom. We identified a large set of putative RNA-binding proteins encoded by the genome of the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica, a species representing a basal animal lineage. We compared the Amphimedon RNA-binding proteins with those encoded by the genomes of two bilaterians (human and Drosophila), representatives of two other basal metazoan lineages (a placozoan and a cnidarian), a choanoflagellate (probable sister group of animals), and two fungi. We established the evolutionary history of 32 families of RNA-binding proteins and found that most of the diversity of RNA-binding proteins present in contemporary metazoans, including humans, was already established in the last common ancestor of animals. This includes RNA-binding proteins known to be involved in key processes in bilaterians, such as development, stem and/or germ cells properties, and non-coding RNA pathways. From this analysis we infer that a complex toolkit of RNA-binding proteins was present in the last common ancestor of animals and that it has been recruited to perform new functions during early animal evolution, in particular in relation to the acquisition of multicellularity.
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