Molecular fossils probe life's origins. Research into molecular fossils and modern viruses is shedding light on the evolution of archaea, prokaryotes and eukaryotes

Evolutionary Cell Biology of Proteins from Protists to Humans and Plants

During evolution, the cell as a fine-tuned machine had to undergo permanent adjustments to match changes in its environment, while "closed for repair work" was not possible. Evolution from protists (protozoa and unicellular algae) to multicellular organisms may have occurred in basically two lineages, Unikonta and Bikonta, culminating in mammals and angiosperms (flowering plants), respectively. Unicellular models for unikont evolution are myxamoebae (Dictyostelium) and increasingly also choanoflagellates, whereas for bikonts, ciliates are preferred models. Information accumulating from combined molecular database search and experimental verification allows new insights into evolutionary diversification and maintenance of genes/proteins from protozoa on, eventually with orthologs in bacteria. However, proteins have rarely been followed up systematically for maintenance or change of function or intracellular localization, acquirement of new domains, partial deletion (e.g. of subunits), and refunctionalization, etc. These aspects are discussed in this review, envisaging "evolutionary cell biology." Protozoan heritage is found for most important cellular structures and functions up to humans and flowering plants. Examples discussed include refunctionalization of voltage-dependent Ca²⁺ channels in cilia and replacement by other types during evolution. Altogether components serving Ca²⁺ signaling are very flexible throughout evolution, calmodulin being a most conservative example, in contrast to calcineurin whose catalytic subunit is lost in plants, whereas both subunits are maintained up to mammals for complex functions (immune defense and learning). Domain structure of R-type SNAREs differs in mono- and bikonta, as do Ca²⁺ -dependent protein kinases. Unprecedented selective expansion of the subunit a which connects multimeric base piece and head parts (V0, V1) of H⁺ -ATPase/pump may well reflect the intriguing vesicle trafficking system in ciliates, specifically in Paramecium. One of the most flexible proteins is centrin when its intracellular localization and function throughout evolution is traced. There are many more examples documenting evolutionary flexibility of translation products depending on requirements and potential for implantation within the actual cellular context at different levels of evolution. From estimates of gene and protein numbers per organism, it appears that much of the basic inventory of protozoan precursors could be transmitted to highest eukaryotic levels, with some losses and also with important additional "inventions."