Evolution of CDK1 Paralog Specializations in a Lineage With Fast Developing Planktonic Embryos

Xiaofei Ma; Jan Inge Øvrebø; Eric M Thompson

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.770939

Evolution of CDK1 Paralog Specializations in a Lineage With Fast Developing Planktonic Embryos

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022 Jan 28:9:770939. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.770939. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Xiaofei Ma^{1

2}, Jan Inge Øvrebø^{2

3}, Eric M Thompson^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China.
² Sars International Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

Abstract

The active site of the essential CDK1 kinase is generated by core structural elements, among which the PSTAIRE motif in the critical αC-helix, is universally conserved in the single CDK1 ortholog of all metazoans. We report serial CDK1 duplications in the chordate, Oikopleura. Paralog diversifications in the PSTAIRE, activation loop substrate binding platform, ATP entrance site, hinge region, and main Cyclin binding interface, have undergone positive selection to subdivide ancestral CDK1 functions along the S-M phase cell cycle axis. Apparent coevolution of an exclusive CDK1d:Cyclin Ba/b pairing is required for oogenic meiosis and early embryogenesis, a period during which, unusually, CDK1d, rather than Cyclin Ba/b levels, oscillate, to drive very rapid cell cycles. Strikingly, the modified PSTAIRE of odCDK1d shows convergence over great evolutionary distance with plant CDKB, and in both cases, these variants exhibit increased specialization to M-phase.

Keywords: PSTAIRE helix; coenocyst; cyclin dependent kinase; determinant of specificity; embryogenesis; gene duplication; nuclear envelope breakdown; tunicate.