Disease-causing protein in cystic fibrosis has ancient roots in sea lamprey

The oldest known ortholog of the ion channel that is defective in patients with cystic fibrosis arose approximately 450 million years ago in the sea lamprey, researchers report. Many differences between lamprey and jawed vertebrate orthologs of this protein, called the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, are vestiges of the evolutionary transition from a transporter to a specialized chloride and bicarbonate channel.

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