A New insight into the evolution of aquaporins from flowering plants and vertebrates: orthologous identification and functional transfer is possible new insight into the phylogeny of aquaporins

GABRIELA SOTO; KARINA ALLEVA; GABRIELA AMODEO; JORGE MUSCHIETTI; NICOLAS AYUB

GENE

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2012 vol. 503 p. 165 - 176

0378-1119

Aquaporins (AQPs) comprise a diverse family of channel protein which transport water and/or small solutes across cell membranes in the three domains of life. In plants, there are four subfamilies of AQPs named PIP, TIP, NIP and SIP while in animals the AQPs are commonly classified in orthodox aquaporins and aquaglyceroporins. Recently, experimental data showed that individual proteins belonging to the same subfamily are located in different compartments and/or could transport different solutes, showing that prediction of AQPs function from sequence is a major challenge. This problem is enhanced by the absence of AQPs trees that reflect the organismal phylogeny.