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The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution

BACKGROUND: Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) form a family of transmembrane proteins widely conserved in Metazoa, with key functions in cell-to-cell communication and control of multiple cellular processes. A new family of RTK named Venus Kinase Receptor (VKR) has been described in invertebrates. The...

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Autores principales: Vanderstraete, Mathieu, Gouignard, Nadège, Ahier, Arnaud, Morel, Marion, Vicogne, Jérôme, Dissous, Colette
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
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Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3703292/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23721482
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-14-361
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author Vanderstraete, Mathieu
Gouignard, Nadège
Ahier, Arnaud
Morel, Marion
Vicogne, Jérôme
Dissous, Colette
author_facet Vanderstraete, Mathieu
Gouignard, Nadège
Ahier, Arnaud
Morel, Marion
Vicogne, Jérôme
Dissous, Colette
author_sort Vanderstraete, Mathieu
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) form a family of transmembrane proteins widely conserved in Metazoa, with key functions in cell-to-cell communication and control of multiple cellular processes. A new family of RTK named Venus Kinase Receptor (VKR) has been described in invertebrates. The VKR receptor possesses a Venus Fly Trap (VFT) extracellular module, a bilobate structure that binds small ligands to induce receptor kinase activity. VKR was shown to be highly expressed in the larval stages and gonads of several invertebrates, suggesting that it could have functions in development and/or reproduction. RESULTS: Analysis of recent genomic data has allowed us to extend the presence of VKR to five bilaterian phyla (Platyhelminthes, Arthropoda, Annelida, Mollusca, Echinodermata) as well as to the Cnidaria phylum. The presence of NveVKR in the early-branching metazoan Nematostella vectensis suggested that VKR arose before the bilaterian radiation. Phylogenetic and gene structure analyses showed that the 40 receptors identified in 36 animal species grouped monophyletically, and likely evolved from a common ancestor. Multiple alignments of tyrosine kinase (TK) and VFT domains indicated their important level of conservation in all VKRs identified up to date. We showed that VKRs had inducible activity upon binding of extracellular amino-acids and molecular modeling of the VFT domain confirmed the structure of the conserved amino-acid binding site. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the presence of VKR in a large number of invertebrates, including primitive metazoans like cnidarians, but also its absence from nematodes and chordates. This little-known RTK family deserves to be further explored in order to determine its evolutionary origin, its possible interest for the emergence and specialization of Metazoa, and to understand its function in invertebrate development and/or reproductive biology.
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spelling pubmed-37032922013-07-07 The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution Vanderstraete, Mathieu Gouignard, Nadège Ahier, Arnaud Morel, Marion Vicogne, Jérôme Dissous, Colette BMC Genomics Research Article BACKGROUND: Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) form a family of transmembrane proteins widely conserved in Metazoa, with key functions in cell-to-cell communication and control of multiple cellular processes. A new family of RTK named Venus Kinase Receptor (VKR) has been described in invertebrates. The VKR receptor possesses a Venus Fly Trap (VFT) extracellular module, a bilobate structure that binds small ligands to induce receptor kinase activity. VKR was shown to be highly expressed in the larval stages and gonads of several invertebrates, suggesting that it could have functions in development and/or reproduction. RESULTS: Analysis of recent genomic data has allowed us to extend the presence of VKR to five bilaterian phyla (Platyhelminthes, Arthropoda, Annelida, Mollusca, Echinodermata) as well as to the Cnidaria phylum. The presence of NveVKR in the early-branching metazoan Nematostella vectensis suggested that VKR arose before the bilaterian radiation. Phylogenetic and gene structure analyses showed that the 40 receptors identified in 36 animal species grouped monophyletically, and likely evolved from a common ancestor. Multiple alignments of tyrosine kinase (TK) and VFT domains indicated their important level of conservation in all VKRs identified up to date. We showed that VKRs had inducible activity upon binding of extracellular amino-acids and molecular modeling of the VFT domain confirmed the structure of the conserved amino-acid binding site. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the presence of VKR in a large number of invertebrates, including primitive metazoans like cnidarians, but also its absence from nematodes and chordates. This little-known RTK family deserves to be further explored in order to determine its evolutionary origin, its possible interest for the emergence and specialization of Metazoa, and to understand its function in invertebrate development and/or reproductive biology. BioMed Central 2013-05-30 /pmc/articles/PMC3703292/ /pubmed/23721482 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-14-361 Text en Copyright © 2013 Vanderstraete et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Vanderstraete, Mathieu
Gouignard, Nadège
Ahier, Arnaud
Morel, Marion
Vicogne, Jérôme
Dissous, Colette
The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution
title The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution
title_full The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution
title_fullStr The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution
title_full_unstemmed The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution
title_short The venus kinase receptor (VKR) family: structure and evolution
title_sort venus kinase receptor (vkr) family: structure and evolution
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3703292/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23721482
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-14-361
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