ArticleCommunications biology2024
An evolutionary timeline of the oxytocin signaling pathway.
Article in Communications biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nonapeptide molecular evolution during the adaptive radiation of Tanganyika cichlids.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Organization of neuropeptide systems in the human brain.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Oxytocin-induced modulation of explicit and implicit visual perspective taking.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The psychedelic-peptide paradox: a hormetic hypothesis.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- Oxytocin and opioid antagonists: A dual approach to improving social behavior.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Review
- Cryptic genetic variation in brain gene expression precedes the evolution of cannibalism in spadefoot toad tadpoles.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- An evolutionary timeline of the oxytocin signaling pathway.Communications biology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 6 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide associated with both psychological and somatic processes like parturition and social bonding. Although oxytocin homologs have been identified in many species, the evolutionary timeline of the entire oxytocin signaling gene pathway has yet to be described. Using protein sequence similarity searches, microsynteny, and phylostratigraphy, we assigned the genes supporting the oxytocin pathway to different phylostrata based on when we found they likely arose in evolution. We show that the majority (64%) of genes in the pathway are 'modern'. Most of the modern genes evolved around the emergence of vertebrates or jawed vertebrates (540 - 530 million years ago, 'mya'), including OXTR, OXT and CD38. Of those, 45% were under positive selection at some point during vertebrate evolution. We also found that 18% of the genes in the oxytocin pathway are 'ancient', meaning their emergence dates back to cellular organisms and opisthokonta (3500-1100 mya). The remaining genes (18%) that evolved after ancient and before modern genes were classified as 'medium-aged'. Functional analyses revealed that, in humans, medium-aged oxytocin pathway genes are highly expressed in contractile organs, while modern genes in the oxytocin pathway are primarily expressed in the brain and muscle tissue.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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 OpenQuestion graph.