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Insulin Signaling and Pharmacology in Corals
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  • Whitney Vizgaudis,
  • Lokender Kumar,
  • Monsurat Olaosebikan,
  • Liza Roger,
  • Nathanael Brenner,
  • Samuel Sledzieski,
  • Jinkyu Yang,
  • Nastassja Lewinski,
  • Rohit Singh,
  • Noah Daniels,
  • Lenore Cowen,
  • Judith Klein-Seetharaman
Whitney Vizgaudis
Colorado School of Mines
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Lokender Kumar
Colorado School of Mines
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Monsurat Olaosebikan
Tufts University
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Liza Roger
Virginia Commonwealth University
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Nathanael Brenner
Colorado School of Mines
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Samuel Sledzieski
MIT
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Jinkyu Yang
University of Washington
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Nastassja Lewinski
Virginia Commonwealth University
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Rohit Singh
MIT
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Noah Daniels
University of Rhode Island
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Lenore Cowen
Tufts University
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Judith Klein-Seetharaman
Colorado School of Mines

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Once thought to be a unique capability of the Langerhans Islands in the pancreas of mammals, insulin production is now recognized as an evolutionarily ancient function going back to prokaryotes, ubiquitously present in unicellular eukaryotes, fungi, worm, Drosophila and of course human. While the functionality of the signaling pathway has been experimentally demonstrated in some of these organisms, it has not yet been exploited for pharmacological applications. To enable such applications, we need to understand the extent to which the structure and function of the insulin-insulin receptor system is conserved. To this end, we analyzed the insulin signaling pathway in corals through remote homology detection and modeling. By docking known insulin receptor ligands to a coral homology structure, we locate ligand binding pockets and demonstrate their conservation suggesting that it may be possible to exploit the structural conservation for pharmacological applications in non-model organisms. We also identified the coral homologues of the over 100 signaling proteins involved in insulin and its related signaling pathways, demonstrating their wide-spread conservation. Notable exceptions are glucagon and somatostatin. It is tempting to speculate that under high light conditions, when the algae synthetize excess sugars, the cnidarian host may experience insulin resistance, and that the cnidarian microbiome may be involved in manipulating the insulin signaling system.