title: Ancestral Ca2+ signaling machinery in early animal and fungal evolution.
abstract: Animals and fungi diverged from a common unicellular ancestor of Opisthokonta, yet they exhibit significant differences in their components of Ca2+ signaling pathways. Many Ca2+ signaling molecules appear to be either animal-specific or fungal-specific, which is generally believed to result from lineage-specific adaptations to distinct physiological requirements. Here, by analyzing the genomic data from several close relatives of animals and fungi, we demonstrate that many components of animal and fungal Ca2+ signaling machineries are present in the apusozoan protist Thecamonas trahens, which belongs to the putative unicellular sister group to Opisthokonta. We also identify the conserved portion of Ca2+ signaling molecules in early evolution of animals and fungi following their divergence. Furthermore, our results reveal the lineage-specific expansion of Ca2+ channels and transporters in the unicellular ancestors of animals and in basal fungi. These findings provide novel insights into the evolution and regulation of Ca2+ signaling critical for animal and fungal biology.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Pathogenesis Program, The Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University Langone Medical Center, NY, USA. xinjiang.cai@med.nyu.edu
authors.forename: Xinjiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Clapham
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000235:genetics*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005658:Fungi / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel