First Author | Bingle CD | Year | 2011 |
Journal | Biochem Soc Trans | Volume | 39 |
Issue | 4 | Pages | 961-5 |
PubMed ID | 21787330 | Mgi Jnum | J:174123 |
Mgi Id | MGI:5051922 | Doi | 10.1042/BST0390961 |
Citation | Bingle CD, et al. (2011) Distant cousins: genomic and sequence diversity within the BPI fold-containing (BPIF)/PLUNC protein family. Biochem Soc Trans 39(4):961-5 |
abstractText | PLUNC (palate, lung and nasal epithelium clone) proteins make up the largest branch of the BPI (bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein)/LBP (lipopolysaccharide-binding protein) family of lipid-transfer proteins. PLUNCs make up one of the most rapidly evolving mammalian protein families and exhibit low levels of sequence similarity coupled with multiple examples of species-specific gene acquisition and gene loss. Vertebrate genomes contain multiple examples of genes that do not meet our original definition of what is required to be a member of the PLUNC family, namely conservation of exon numbers/sizes, overall protein size, genomic location and the presence of a conserved disulfide bond. This suggests that evolutionary forces have continued to act on the structure of this conserved domain in what are likely to be functionally important ways. |