Intrinsically disordered proteins and multicellular organisms

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and IDP regions lack stable tertiary structure yet carry out numerous biological functions, especially those associated with signaling, transcription regulation, DNA condensation, cell division, and cellular differentiation. Both post-translational modifications (PTMs) and alternative splicing (AS) expand the functional repertoire of IDPs. Here we propose that an IDP-based developmental toolkit, which is comprised of IDP regions, PTMs, especially multiple PTMs, within these IDP regions, and AS events within segments of pre-mRNA that code for these same IDP regions, allows functional diversification and environmental responsiveness for molecules that direct the development of complex metazoans. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.