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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Genetic Barcoding with Fluorescent Proteins for Multiplexed Applications
Published on: April 14, 2015
Conservation and novelty in the evolution of cell adhesion and extracellular matrix genes
H Hutter1, B E Vogel, J D Plenefisch
1Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. hutter@mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de
Abstract:
New proteins and modules have been invented throughout evolution. Gene "birth dates" in Caenorhabditis elegans range from the origins of cellular life through adaptation to a soil habitat. Possibly half are "metazoan" genes, having arisen sometime between the yeast-metazoan and nematode-chordate separations. These include basement membrane and cell adhesion molecules implicated in tissue organization. By contrast, epithelial surfaces facing the environment have specialized components invented within the nematode lineage. Moreover, interstitial matrices were likely elaborated within the vertebrate lineage. A strategy for concerted evolution of new gene families, as well as conservation of adaptive genes, may underlie the differences between heterochromatin and euchromatin.
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