University of Bayreuth, Press Release No. 024/2022 - 28 February 2022
When synapse building blocks became scarce: Bayreuth biologists explain protein exchange during vertebrate evolution
The electrical synapses in vertebrates are made of different, but by no means more powerful proteins than the electrical synapses in far older invertebrates. Animal physiologists at the University of Bayreuth have now found an explanation for this evolutionary puzzle. In the early phase of vertebrate evolution, there was a loss of diversity in precisely those proteins that had been used for signal transmission in older invertebrates. The scientists have published their discovery in the journal eLife.
Dr. Georg Welzel, University of Bayreuth.
UBT / Chr. Wißler.
As part of the study, evolutionary phylogenetic trees were constructed to analyze the diversity of innexins in vertebrates and invertebrates.
Georg. Welzel.
Connexin-based gap junctions evolved after innexin diversity was lost during a bottleneck event in the early chordate evolution.
Gregor Welzel.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Schuster (left) and Dr. Georg Welzel (right).
UBT / Chr. Wißler