A Comparative Genomic and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Origin and Evolution of the CCN Gene Family

CCN gene family members have recently been identified as multifunctional regulators involved in diverse biological functions, especially in vascular and skeletal development. In the present study, a comparative genomic and phylogenetic analysis was performed to show the similarities and differences in structure and function of CCNs from different organisms and to reveal their potential evolutionary relationship. First, CCN homologs of metazoans from different species were identified. Then we made multiple sequence alignments, MEME analysis, and functional sites prediction, which show the highly conserved structural features among CCN metazoans. The phylogenetic tree was further established, and thus CCNs were found undergoing extensive lineage-specific duplication events and lineage-specific expansion during the evolutionary process. Besides, comparative analysis about the genomic organization and chromosomal CCN gene surrounding indicated a clear orthologous relationship among these species counterparts. At last, based on these research results above, a potential evolutionary scenario was generated to overview the origin and evolution of the CCN gene family.