- Communication -

Volume 9

Full article

Evolutionary origin of the tumor-suppressor Hyperplastic discs protein

Leonid V. Omelyanchuk^1,*, Julya A. Pertseva¹ and John M. Saul²

¹ Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 10 Lavrent'ev Ave., 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
² ORYX, 3 rue Bourdaloue, 75009 Paris, France

* Corresponding author
   Email: ome@bionet.nsc.ru


Edited by E. Wingender; received March 01, 2009; revised April 21, 2009; accepted April 25, 2009; published April 27, 2009

Abstract

Previous evolutionary study of the tumor suppressor Merlin revealed that this protein family was produced by very early metazoans with the exception of some or all flatworm lineages [Golovnina et al. (2005), BMC Evol. Biol. 5, 69]. We ask whether other tumor-suppressor proteins had also been in existence in these times and focus our attention on Hyperplastic Discs (Hyd) protein, a classic tumor suppressor in Drosophila melanogaster which, when mutated, may cause over-proliferation and malignancy. Phylogenetic analysis of the Hyd protein indicates that it was present among metazoa by the time Trichoplax adhaerens had emerged from the common unicellular ancestor of the Animalia.

Keywords: tumor suppressor, multicellularity, hyperplastic discs