A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes
2800 Neuroscience
0301 basic medicine
570
Mouse
1300 Biochemistry
Evolution
QH301-705.5
Science
Evolutionary biology
Genetics and Molecular Biology
Stem cells
612
germline
TRA98
576
Evolution, Molecular
developmental biology
03 medical and health sciences
stem cells
Developmental biology
genomics
Medicine and Health Sciences
Wss1
Animals
Biology (General)
Caenorhabditis elegans
mouse
Phylogeny
0303 health sciences
Genome
Reproduction
evolutionary biology
Q
R
2400 Immunology and Microbiology
Spartan
Eukaryota
Antigens, Nuclear
Cell Biology
Genomics
GCNA
Meiosis
Developmental Biology and Stem Cells
Germ Cells
Gene Expression Regulation
C. elegans
Medicine
intrinsically disordered proteins
DOI:
10.7554/elife.19993
Publication Date:
2016-10-08T12:00:33Z
AUTHORS (13)
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.
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CITATIONS (63)
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