Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Bacterial Inner-membrane Display for Screening a Library of Antibody Fragments
Published on: October 15, 2016
Conserved domains of the class A scavenger receptors: evolution and function
Dawn M E Bowdish1, Siamon Gordon
1Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Abstract:
The class A scavenger receptors are phagocytic pattern recognition receptors that are well represented in vertebrate genomes. The high level of conservation among vertebrates implies that this is an evolutionarily conserved family of receptors and indicates the presence of a common ancestral gene. The identity of this ancestral gene is not clear, as it appears that many of the domains of the scavenger receptors (e.g. collagenous, scavenger receptor cysteine rich) originated early in evolutionary history and are found in many combinations, often in genes of unknown function. These early receptors may function in cell-cell recognition, aggregation, or lipid recognition, and their involvement in pattern recognition, phagocytosis, and homeostasis may have been adaptations of such conserved patterns. Herein, we reclassify the class A scavenger receptors based on recent discoveries of new members of this family, describe the evolution of the various domains of the class A scavenger receptors, and discuss the appearance and function of these domains through evolutionary history.
Related Concept Videos
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally analyses the...
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally analyses the...
Conservation of Protein Domains Over Different Proteins
A limited set of protein domains often duplicate and recombine during evolution. These domains can be organized in different combinations to form...
Diversity of Antigen Receptors
Before encountering any antigen, lymphocytes express these receptors. On B cells, the antigen receptor is a membrane-bound antibody molecule called BCR; on T cells, it is a T cell receptor or TCR. B and T cell receptors are composed of two...
Conservation of Protein Domains
A limited set of protein domains often duplicate and recombine during evolution. These domains can be organized in different combinations to form...
Assembly of Signaling Complexes
Interaction domains in cell signaling
Interaction domains recognize exposed features of their binding partners containing post-translationally modified sequences,...

