Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2004 Nov;20(11):563-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2004.08.007.

Evolution of the Fgf and Fgfr gene families

Nobuyuki Itoh  1 , David M Ornitz
Affiliations
Review

Evolution of the Fgf and Fgfr gene families

Nobuyuki Itoh et al. Trends Genet. 2004 Nov.

Abstract

Fibroblast growth factors (Fgfs) and Fgf receptors (Fgfrs) comprise a signaling system that is conserved throughout metazoan evolution. Twenty-two Fgfs and four Fgfrs have been identified in humans and mice. During evolution, the Fgf family appears to have expanded in two phases. In the first phase, during early metazoan evolution, Fgfs expanded from two or three to six genes by gene duplication. In the second phase, during the evolution of early vertebrates, the Fgf family expanded by two large-scale gen(om)e duplications. By contrast, the Fgfr family has expanded only in the second phase. However, the acquisition of alternative splicing by Fgfrs has increased their functional diversity. The mechanisms that regulate alternative splicing have been conserved since the divergences of echinoderms and vertebrates. The expansion of the Fgf and Fgfr gene families has enabled this signaling system to acquire functional diversity and, therefore, an almost ubiquitous involvement in developmental and physiological processes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources

-