Vascular endothelial growth factors: A comparison between invertebrates and vertebrates

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) belongs to the highly conserved platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)/VEGF group within the cysteine-knot superfamily of growth factors. This superfamily includes hormones and extracellular signaling molecules, such as PDGF, nerve growth factor, transforming growth factor-β and human chorionic gonadotropin [1]. These molecules do not possess a high sequence similarity, but they all have a typical cysteine-knot structure, which contains six conserved cysteine residues connected by three disulfide bridges.
Source: Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Mini review Source Type: research