Abstract
GATA transcription factors are found in animals, plants, and fungi. In animals, they have important developmental roles in controlling specification of cell identities and executing tissue-specific differentiation. The Phylum Nematoda is a diverse group of vermiform animals that inhabit ecological niches all over the world. Both free-living and parasitic species are known, including those that cause human infectious disease. To date, GATA factors in nematodes have been studied almost exclusively in the model system C. elegans and its close relatives. In this study, we use newly available sequences to identify GATA factors across the nematode phylum. We find that most species have fewer than six GATA factors, but some species have 10 or more. Comparisons of gene and protein structure suggest that there were at most two GATA factors at the base of the phylum, which expanded by duplication and modification to result in a core set of four factors. The high degree of structural similarity with the corresponding orthologues in C. elegans suggests that the nematode GATA factors share similar functions in development.
Highlights
GATA factors are an ancient family of eukaryotic transcription factors that mediate processes of development, differentiation, and gene expression in multiple cells and tissue types
GATA Factors Are Found across the Nematode Phylum
We identified GATA factors from available genome sequences of nematode species
Summary
GATA factors are an ancient family of eukaryotic transcription factors that mediate processes of development, differentiation, and gene expression in multiple cells and tissue types. Phylum comprises a rich and varied suite of species occupying varying ecological niches, including free-living, entomopathogenic, and animal and plant parasitic [1]. Ribosomal RNA analysis has subdivided the phylum as shown, and we will use the simpler five-clade taxonomy [2]. The major groups are the Chromadorea, which includes Clade III (Spirurina), Clade IV (Tylenchina) and. Clade V (Rhabditina, which includes C. elegans); Dorylaimia, or Clade I; and Enoplia and Triplonchida, representing Clade II. The Plectids, is a sister group to Clades III, IV, and V within the Chromadorea [3]. Nematodes are considered as a sister group to the Arthropods, and grouped together as a clade of molting animals, or Ecdysozoa [4]
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