Publication Date:
2011-03-30
Description:
Tetrapods express one agouti gene [agouti signaling protein (asip)] in the skin regulating pigmentation and a second [agouti-related protein (agrp)] in the brain regulating energy homeostasis. In contrast, most teleosts have four genes encoding agouti-type proteins. Braasch and Postlethwait (1) present an analysis of the evolutionary history of agouti genes in teleosts, reordering the phylogenetic tree proposed previously (2) and proposing a nomenclature change. However, gene nomenclature derives mainly from functional or sequence properties and not from evolutionary predictions. Furthermore, inclusion of an ancient agouti sequence from the elephant shark provides an additional interpretation of the phylogeny (Fig. 1).pnas;108/13/E49/FIG01F1fig01Fig. 1Phylogeny...
Keywords:
Letters
Print ISSN:
0027-8424
Electronic ISSN:
1091-6490
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
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