MAPK全名是促分裂素原活化蛋白激酶(mitogen-activatedproteinkinases),由MAPK,、MAPKK和MAPKKK參與構(gòu)成的MAPK信號(hào)通路是真核生物信號(hào)傳遞網(wǎng)絡(luò)中的重要途徑之一,，參與細(xì)胞的增殖,、分化,、遷移及凋亡等過(guò)程,，與一系列包括阿爾茨海默病(老年癡呆癥),、乳腺癌等在內(nèi)的疾病相關(guān),。
自MAPK首次被發(fā)現(xiàn)以來(lái),MAPK家族里已經(jīng)涌現(xiàn)出許多成員,，在脊椎動(dòng)物中共有13個(gè)不同的亞家族,。先前研究認(rèn)為MAPK各亞家族是由一個(gè)存在于動(dòng)植物及真菌界之前的共同祖先分化而來(lái)。我們最新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)脊椎動(dòng)物MAPK家族較早起源于三個(gè)不同的祖先,，先前認(rèn)為只存在于脊椎動(dòng)物或脊索動(dòng)物的MAPK4/6亞家族的祖先在棘皮動(dòng)物中已經(jīng)存在,。在脊椎動(dòng)物從無(wú)脊椎動(dòng)物分化出來(lái)的早期,MAPK家族經(jīng)歷了一次較大規(guī)模的擴(kuò)張,隨后在某些物種中又發(fā)生了不同程度的丟失。另外MPAK4和7亞家族在從兩棲類(lèi)進(jìn)化到哺乳類(lèi)的過(guò)程中經(jīng)歷了內(nèi)含子丟失,這一事件可能和脊椎動(dòng)物的適應(yīng)性進(jìn)化相關(guān),。多個(gè)MAPK家族成員（MAPK11/12,、MAPK13/14）存在基因共線性進(jìn)化關(guān)系和基因結(jié)構(gòu)相似性。在脊椎動(dòng)物進(jìn)化過(guò)程中,，MPAK家族成員受到了純化選擇壓力的作用,。蛋白功能域和結(jié)構(gòu)元件分析顯示,某些MAPK亞家族中存在哺乳動(dòng)物特異性的結(jié)構(gòu)元件，它們可能對(duì)哺乳動(dòng)物的進(jìn)化有重要作用,。上述研究對(duì)了解MAPK家族的進(jìn)化歷史具有重要意義.
該研究由江蘇大學(xué)生命科學(xué)研究院的碩士研究生李萌和劉俊在導(dǎo)師張馳宇博士的指導(dǎo)下完成,，研究結(jié)果于2011年10月27日正式發(fā)表在《PLoS綜合》上。（生物谷 Bioon.com）
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026999
PMC:
PMID:
Evolutionary History of the Vertebrate Mitogen Activated Protein Kinases Family
Meng Li, Jun Liu, Chiyu Zhang*
Background The mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) family pathway is implicated in diverse cellular processes and pathways essential to most organisms. Its evolution is conserved throughout the eukaryotic kingdoms. However, the detailed evolutionary history of the vertebrate MAPK family is largely unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings The MAPK family members were collected from literatures or by searching the genomes of several vertebrates and invertebrates with the known MAPK sequences as queries. We found that vertebrates had significantly more MAPK family members than invertebrates, and the vertebrate MAPK family originated from 3 progenitors, suggesting that a burst of gene duplication events had occurred after the divergence of vertebrates from invertebrates. Conservation of evolutionary synteny was observed in the vertebrate MAPK subfamilies 4, 6, 7, and 11 to 14. Based on synteny and phylogenetic relationships, MAPK12 appeared to have arisen from a tandem duplication of MAPK11 and the MAPK13-MAPK14 gene unit was from a segmental duplication of the MAPK11-MAPK12 gene unit. Adaptive evolution analyses reveal that purifying selection drove the evolution of MAPK family, implying strong functional constraints of MAPK genes. Intriguingly, however, intron losses were specifically observed in the MAPK4 and MAPK7 genes, but not in their flanking genes, during the evolution from teleosts to amphibians and mammals. The specific occurrence of intron losses in the MAPK4 and MAPK7 subfamilies might be associated with adaptive evolution of the vertebrates by enhancing the gene expression level of both MAPK genes. Conclusions/Significance These results provide valuable insight into the evolutionary history of the vertebrate MAPK family.
