Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 110, Issue 40, Pages 16050-16055Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1309748110
Keywords
origin multicellularity; premetazoan evolution; subfunctionalization; Porifera; Holozoa
Categories
Funding
- Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats contract
- European Research Council Starting Grant [ERC-2007-StG-206883]
- Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) [BFU2011-23434]
- pregraduate Formacion Profesorado Universitario from MINECO
- MINECO
- Spanish and Andalusian Governments [BFU2010-14839, CSD2007-00008]
- Proyecto de Excelencia [CVI-3488]
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) [MOP-111007]
- Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology
- CIHR
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Junior Fellows Genetic Networks Program
- ICREA Funding Source: Custom
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Developmental transcription factors are key players in animal multicellularity, being members of the T-box family that are among the most important. Until recently, T-box transcription factors were thought to be exclusively present in metazoans. Here, we report the presence of T-box genes in several nonmetazoan lineages, including ichthyosporeans, filastereans, and fungi. Our data confirm that Brachyury is the most ancient member of the T-box family and establish that the T-box family diversified at the onset of Metazoa. Moreover, we demonstrate functional conservation of a homolog of Brachyury of the protist Capsaspora owczarzaki in Xenopus laevis. By comparing the molecular phenotype of C. owczarzaki Brachyury with that of homologs of early branching metazoans, we define a clear difference between unicellular holozoan and metazoan Brachyury homologs, suggesting that the specificity of Brachyury emerged at the origin of Metazoa. Experimental determination of the binding preferences of the C. owczarzaki Brachyury results in a similar motif to that of metazoan Brachyury and other T-box classes. This finding suggests that functional specificity between different T-box classes is likely achieved by interaction with alternative cofactors, as opposed to differences in binding specificity.
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