MAPK全名是促分裂素原活化蛋白激酶(mitogen-activatedproteinkinases),由MAPK、MAPKK和MAPKKK參與構成的MAPK信號通路是真核生物信號傳遞網(wǎng)絡中的重要途徑之一,，參與細胞的增殖,、分化、遷移及凋亡等過程,，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。
自MAPK首次被發(fā)現(xiàn)以來,MAPK家族里已經(jīng)涌現(xiàn)出許多成員,，在脊椎動物中共有13個不同的亞家族,。先前研究認為MAPK各亞家族是由一個存在于動植物及真菌界之前的共同祖先分化而來。我們最新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)脊椎動物MAPK家族較早起源于三個不同的祖先,，先前認為只存在于脊椎動物或脊索動物的MAPK4/6亞家族的祖先在棘皮動物中已經(jīng)存在,。在脊椎動物從無脊椎動物分化出來的早期,MAPK家族經(jīng)歷了一次較大規(guī)模的擴張,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亞家族在從兩棲類進化到哺乳類的過程中經(jīng)歷了內(nèi)含子丟失,這一事件可能和脊椎動物的適應性進化相關,。多個MAPK家族成員（MAPK11/12,、MAPK13/14）存在基因共線性進化關系和基因結構相似性。在脊椎動物進化過程中,，MPAK家族成員受到了純化選擇壓力的作用,。蛋白功能域和結構元件分析顯示,某些MAPK亞家族中存在哺乳動物特異性的結構元件，它們可能對哺乳動物的進化有重要作用,。上述研究對了解MAPK家族的進化歷史具有重要意義.
該研究由江蘇大學生命科學研究院的碩士研究生李萌和劉俊在導師張馳宇博士的指導下完成,，研究結果于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
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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.
