Abstract
In all domains of life, Blue Copper Binding proteins can be found, with a variety of functions. Based on their protein sequence and folding, they can be divided in four classes. The first three classes bind copper and perform mostly redox chemistry. This project focuses on the origin of the non copper-binding fourth class, especially the important morphogens in plants (early nodulins) and animals (ephrins). Early nodulins and ephrins have the same fold, and therefore it is very likely that they have a common ancestor. In this project, BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) searches are performed in recently published genomic and EST (Expressed Sequence Tag) databases to gather ephrin and early nodulin DNA and protein sequences, which are subsequently analyzed. This data is used to support the theories on the origin of early nodulins and ephrins.
