Evolution of multicellularity in Metazoa: Comparative analysis of the subcellular localization of proteins in Saccharomyces, Drosophila and Caenorhabditis

Einat Hazkani-Covo, Erez Y. Levanon, Galit Rotman, Dan Graur, Amit Novik

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A comparison of the subcellular assignments of proteins between the unicellular Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the multicellular Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans was performed using a computational tool for the prediction of subcellular localization. Nine subcellular compartments were studied: (1) extracellular domain, (2) cell membrane, (3) cytoplasm, (4) endoplasmic reticulum, (5) Golgi apparatus, (6) lysosome, (7) peroxisome, (8) mitochondria, and (9) nucleus. The transition to multicellularity was found to be characterized by an increase in the total number of proteins encoded by the genome. Interestingly, this increase is distributed unevenly among the subcellular compartments. That is, a disproportionate increase in the number of proteins in the extracellular domain, the cell membrane, and the cytoplasm is observed in multicellular organisms, while no such increase is seen in other subcellular compartments. A possible explanation involves signal transduction. In terms of protein numbers, signal transduction pathways may be roughly described as a pyramid with an expansive base in the extracellular domain (the numerous extracellular signal proteins), progressively narrowing at the cell membrane and cytoplasmic levels, and ending in a narrow tip consisting of only a handful of transcription modulators in the nucleus. Our observations suggest that extracellular signaling interactions among metazoan cells account for the uneven increase in the numbers of proteins among subcellular compartments during the transition to multicellularity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)171-178
Number of pages8
JournalCell Biology International
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We wish to thank Sergey Gribov, Nili Guttmann-Beck, Sergey Nemzer, Michal Preminger, Hershel Safer and Artur Shnayder for their help. We gratefully acknowledge support from the Magnet Da'atConsortium of the Israel Ministry of Industry and Trade. DG was supported by the Research Foundation of Tel Aviv University.

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