Turkish Journal of Biology
DOI
-
Abstract
The secreted glycoprotein vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent and specific mitogen for vascular endothelial cells, capable of stimulating angiogenesis during embryonic development and tumor formation. Despite intensive research, the functions of several VEGF family members remain a mystery. Insight into their evolutionary relationships could profoundly improve our understanding of why there are so many VEGFs and why we have not been able to dissect their function to our satisfaction. It appears from the presence of several structurally related VEGF proteins that VEGF proteins do have a long divergence history. We investigated the evolution and phylogenetic relationships among VEGF proteins by using the information from the molecular data. Consistent phylogenetic trees were generated with character-based and distance-based methods. Several gene duplication events were detected that led to the formation of today's VEGF diversity.
Keywords
Vascular endothelial growth factor, phylogeny, evolution
First Page
217
Last Page
227
Recommended Citation
KASAP, MURAT (2005) "Phylogenetic Analysis of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Diversity," Turkish Journal of Biology: Vol. 29: No. 4, Article 5. Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/biology/vol29/iss4/5
