A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes
Name
Carmell-2016-A widely employed germ cell marke.pdf
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4.84 MB
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Checksum (MD5)
107988e8818f50073dfc4c44615c4a1a
Author(s)
Carmell, Michelle A
Dokshin, Gregoriy A
Skaletsky, Helen
Hu, Yueh-Chiang
van Wolfswinkel, Josien C
Igarashi, Kyomi J
Bellott, Daniel W
Nefedov, Michael
Enders, George C
Uversky, Vladimir N
Date Issued
October 2016
Journal
eLife
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
Citation
Carmell, Michelle A, Gregoriy A Dokshin, Helen Skaletsky, Yueh-Chiang Hu, Josien C van Wolfswinkel, Kyomi J Igarashi, Daniel W Bellott, et al. “A Widely Employed Germ Cell Marker Is an Ancient Disordered Protein with Reproductive Functions in Diverse Eukaryotes.” eLife 5 (October 8, 2016).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The advent of sexual reproduction and the evolution of a dedicated germline in multicellular organisms are critical landmarks in eukaryotic evolution. We report an ancient family of GCNA (germ cell nuclear antigen) proteins that arose in the earliest eukaryotes, and feature a rapidly evolving intrinsically disordered region (IDR). Phylogenetic analysis reveals that GCNA proteins emerged before the major eukaryotic lineages diverged; GCNA predates the origin of a dedicated germline by a billion years. Gcna gene expression is enriched in reproductive cells across eukarya – either just prior to or during meiosis in single-celled eukaryotes, and in stem cells and germ cells of diverse multicellular animals. Studies of Gcna-mutant C. elegans and mice indicate that GCNA has functioned in reproduction for at least 600 million years. Homology to IDR-containing proteins implicated in DNA damage repair suggests that GCNA proteins may protect the genomic integrity of cells carrying a heritable genome.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19993
