Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40001176›Full record

ArticleBMC biology2025

Receptor deorphanization in starfish reveals the evolution of relaxin signaling as a regulator of reproduction.

Yuling Feng, Nayeli Escudero Castelán, Mohammed Akhter Hossain, Hongkang Wu, Hidekazu Katayama, Stuart J Smith, Scott F Cummins, Masatoshi Mita, Ross A D Bathgate, Maurice R Elphick

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Yuling Feng *Centre for Evolutionary & Functional Genomics, School of Biological & Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-0943-8948
Nayeli Escudero Castelán *Centre for Evolutionary & Functional Genomics, School of Biological & Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8443-9085
Mohammed Akhter HossainFlorey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9961-0006
Hongkang WuFlorey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0002-8622-6301
Hidekazu KatayamaUtsunomiya Chanpus Liberal Arts Center, Teikyo University, 1-1 Toyosatodai, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 320-8551, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3367-9147
Stuart J SmithCentre for Bioinnovation and School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0002-3656-2673
Scott F CumminsCentre for Bioinnovation and School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1454-2076
Masatoshi MitaDepartment of Biochemistry, Showa University School of Medicine, Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo, 142-8555, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7856-9892
Ross A D BathgateFlorey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia. bathgate@florey.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6301-861X
Maurice R ElphickCentre for Evolutionary & Functional Genomics, School of Biological & Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK. m.r.elphick@qmul.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9169-0048

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRelaxins are a family of peptides that regulate reproductive physiology in vertebrates. Evidence that this is an evolutionarily ancient role of relaxins has been provided by the discovery of two relaxin-like gonad-stimulating peptides (RGP1 and RGP2) that trigger spawning in starfish. The main aim of this study was to identify the receptor(s) that mediate(s) the effects of RGP1 and RGP2 in starfish.

resultsHere we show that RGP1 and RGP2 belong to a family of peptides that include vertebrate relaxins, Drosophila insulin-like peptide 8 (Dilp8), and other relaxin-like peptides in several protostome taxa. An ortholog of the human relaxin receptors RXFP1 and RXFP2 and the Drosophila receptor LGR3 was identified in starfish (RXFP/LGR3). In Drosophila, but not in humans and other vertebrates, there is a paralog of LGR3 known as LGR4, and here an LGR4-type receptor was also identified in starfish. In vitro pharmacological experiments revealed that both RGP1 and RGP2 act as ligands for RXFP/LGR3 in the starfish Acanthaster cf. solaris and Asterias rubens, but neither peptide acts as a ligand for LGR4 in these species.

conclusionsDiscovery of the RXFP/LGR3-type receptor for RGP1 and RGP2 in starfish provides a new insight into the evolution of relaxin-type signaling as a regulator of reproductive processes. Furthermore, our findings indicate that RXFP/LGR3-type receptors have been lost in several phyla, including urochordates, mollusks, bryozoans, platyhelminthes, and nematodes.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularReceptors, G-Protein-CoupledReceptors, PeptideRelaxinReproductionSignal TransductionStarfishAmino Acid SequenceAnimalsHumansPhylogenyReceptors, G-Protein-CoupledReceptors, PeptideRelaxinrelaxin receptorsEvolutionReceptorRelaxinReproductionStarfish

Identifiers

PMID40001176
PMCPMC11863921

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.