Genetics, Vol. 179, 193-197, May 2008, Copyright © 2008
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.085936

Genome Analysis of the Unicellular Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Indicates an Ancient Evolutionary Origin for Key Pattern Recognition and Cell-Signaling Protein Families

Glen L. Wheeler*,1, Diego Miranda-Saavedra{dagger} and Geoffrey J. Barton{ddagger}

* Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth PL1 3DH, United Kingdom, {dagger} Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Cambridge CB2 0XY, United Kingdom and {ddagger} College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, United Kingdom

1 Corresponding author: Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Pl., Plymouth PL1 3DH, United Kingdom.
E-mail: glw{at}pml.ac.uk

The evolution of specific cell signaling and adhesion domains may have played an important role in the transition to a multicellular existence in the metazoans. Genomic analysis indicates that several signaling domains predominately found in animals are also present in the unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. A large group of proteins is present, containing scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR) and C-type lectin domains, which function in ligand binding and play key roles in the innate immune system of animals. Chlamydomonas also contains a large family of putative tyrosine kinases, suggesting an important role for phosphotyrosine signaling in the green algae. These important signaling domains may therefore be widespread among eukaryotes and most probably evolved in ancestral eukaryotes before the divergence of the Opisthokonts (the animal and fungal lineage).




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