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Strategies for Tracking Anastasis, A Cell Survival Phenomenon that Reverses Apoptosis
Published on: February 16, 2015
Evolution of the animal apoptosis network
Christian M Zmasek1, Adam Godzik
1Program on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology
|March 5, 2013
Summary
The evolution of apoptosis regulatory networks in animals is complex, not a simple progression. These networks likely originated in early animals in a complex form, with later simplifications in some species.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Molecular biology
- Genomics
Background:
- Eukaryotic genome availability allows for detailed evolutionary history analysis.
- Apoptosis regulatory networks are crucial cellular processes with implications in human diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolutionary history of apoptosis regulatory networks.
- To understand the complexity and evolution of these networks across the animal kingdom.
Main Methods:
- Comparative genomic analysis of eukaryotic genomes.
- Phylogenetic reconstruction of cellular processes.
Main Results:
- Apoptosis regulatory networks existed in a complex form in the ancestor of all Metazoa.
- The apparent simplicity in nematodes and insects is due to secondary simplification, not an ancestral state.
- Network evolution involves gene loss/expansion, domain shuffling, and parallel evolution.
Conclusions:
- Network evolution is dynamic, not a linear increase in complexity.
- Understanding apoptosis network evolution offers insights into their development and role in diseases.
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