Biology Faculty Articles

Title

Emergence of the Keratinocyte Growth Factor Multigene Family During the Great Ape Radiation

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-1992

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Keywords

Fibroblast growth factors, Gene amplification, Primate evolution

ISSN

1091-6490

Volume

89

Issue/No.

19

First Page

9287

Last Page

9291

Abstract

The structural gene for human keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), a member of the fibroblast growth factor family, consists of three coding exons and two introns typical of other fibroblast growth factor loci. A portion of the KGF gene, located on chromosome 15, is amplified to ≈16 copies in the human genome, and these highly related copies (which consist of exon 2, exon 3, the intron between them, and a 3' noncoding segment of the KGF transcript) are dispersed to multiple human chromosomes. The KGF-like sequences are transcriptionally active, differentially regulated in various tissues, and composed of three distinct classes of coding sequences that are 5% divergent from each other and from the authentic KGF sequence. Multiple copies of KGF-like genes were also discovered in the genomic DNAs of chimpanzee and gorilla but were not found in lesser apes (gibbon), Old World monkeys (African green monkey and macaques), mice, or chickens. The pattern of evolutionary occurrence suggests that a primordial KGF gene was amplified and chromosomally dispersed subsequent to the divergence of orangutan from African apes but before the trichotomous divergence of human, chimpanzee, and gorilla 5-8 million years ago. The appearance of a transcriptionally active and chromosomally dispersed multigene KGF family may have implications in the evolution of the great apes and humans.

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015

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Peer Reviewed

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