title: The evolutionary history of the E2F and DEL genes in Viridiplantae.
abstract: The E2 promoter binding factor (E2F) proteins are present in almost all eukaryotic organisms and are essential to control several processes, such as the cell cycle progression, cell division, DNA replication, and apoptosis. The E2F family comprises two different types of proteins: the typical E2Fs and atypical E2Fs, which differ structurally and have specific functions. The E2F gene family was described for the first time in plants in 1999, and since then several studies have focused on the functional aspects, but the evolutionary history of this gene family is still unknown. Here, we investigated the evolutionary history of the E2F gene family in plants. Our findings suggest that E2F proteins arose early after the emergence of the eukaryotic species, while DEL proteins appear to have arisen before the metazoan and plants origin probably through a partial duplication of an ancient E2F protein. Our data also suggest that E2Fs activators and repressors appeared twice during evolution, once in the metazoan lineage and again in the embryophyte lineage.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n° 9500, Prédio 43421, Mailbox 15005, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil. Electronic address: rauber_rafa@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rauber
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n° 9500, Prédio 43312, Mailbox 15053, 91-501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil. Electronic address: carol.cabreira@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cabreira
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n° 9500, Prédio 43312, Mailbox 15053, 91-501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil. Electronic address: loreta.freitas@ufrgs.br.
authors.forename: Loreta Brandão
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: de Freitas
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n° 9500, Prédio 43312, Mailbox 15053, 91-501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil. Electronic address: aturchetto@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Andreia Carina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Turchetto-Zolet
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n° 9500, Prédio 43421, Mailbox 15005, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil; Programa de Pós Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n° 9500, Prédio 43312, Mailbox 15053, 91-501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil. Electronic address: marcia.margis@ufrgs.br.
authors.forename: Marcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Margis-Pinheiro
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D030562:Databases, Protein; D050684:E2F Transcription Factors / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D057948:Viridiplantae / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050684:E2F Transcription Factors; D010940:Plant Proteins
keywords: Bayesian analysis; DNA binding domain; E2F; Evolutionary history; Plants