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Wayne State University Dissertations
Drosophila, evolution, gene expansion, gene expression, GPCR, Methuselah
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The Methuselah Family Of G Protein Coupled Receptors, Meghna V. Patel
The Methuselah Family Of G Protein Coupled Receptors, Meghna V. Patel
Wayne State University Dissertations
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are one of the largest class of transmembrane signaling proteins that regulate essential developmental and physiological processes in a cell. GPCR success is illustrated by their abundance across both invertebrate and vertebrate genomes. Phylogenetic analyses show that GPCR families have undergone a lot of gene gain and loss during insect evolution. In Drosophila melanogaster, the fifteen Methuselah/Methuselah-like (Mth/Mthl) genes are in fact an insect specific family of GPCRs. In our study, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis using receptor sequences from five Drosophila species and two related insects, including Tribolium and Anopheles to examine the evolution of …