Insulin-like signaling within and beyond metazoans.

Insulin-like signaling within and beyond metazoans. Biol Chem. 2018 Apr 01;: Authors: Vitali V, Horn F, Catania F Abstract Insulin signaling is pivotal in controlling animals' lifespan and responses to environmental changes and, when altered, it may lead to pathogenic states. Despite its importance and relevance for biomedical research, insulin's mechanism of action and the full range of its pathophysiological effects remain incompletely understood. Likewise, the evolutionary origin of insulin and its associated signaling components are unclear. Notwithstanding the common view that insulin signaling originated within metazoans, experimental evidence from nonmetazoans suggest a more widespread distribution across eukaryotes. Here, we summarize this evidence. Furthermore, we put forward an evolutionary account that reconciles seemingly contradictory results in the literature. PMID: 29664731 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Biological Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Tags: Biol Chem Source Type: research