TY - JOUR
AU - Patrick, Denis
AB - Background: As key regulators of mitotic chromosome segregation, the Aurora family of serine/threonine kinases play an important role in cell division. Abnormalities in Aurora kinases have been strongly linked with cancer, which has lead to the recent development of new classes of anti-cancer drugs that specifically target the ATP-binding domain of these kinases. From an evolutionary perspective, the species distribution of the Aurora kinase family is complex. Mammals uniquely have three Aurora kinases, Aurora-A, Aurora-B, and Aurora-C, while for other metazoans, including the frog, fruitfly and nematode, only Aurora-A and Aurora-B kinases are known. The fungi have a single Aurora-like homolog. Based on the tacit assumption of orthology to human counterparts, model organism studies have been central to the functional characterization of Aurora kinases. However, the ortholog and paralog relationships of these kinases across various species have not been rigorously examined. Here, we present comprehensive evolutionary analyses of the Aurora kinase family. Results: Phylogenetic trees suggest that all three vertebrate Auroras evolved from a single urochordate ancestor. Specifically, Aurora-A is an orthologous lineage in cold-blooded vertebrates and mammals, while structurally similar Aurora-B and Aurora-C evolved more recently in mammals from a duplication of an ancestral Aurora-B/C gene found in 
TI - Evolutionary relationships of Aurora kinases: Implications for model organism studies and the development of anti-cancer drugs
JF - BMC Evolutionary Biology
DO - 10.1186/1471-2148-4-39
DA - 2004-10-12
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/evolutionary-relationships-of-aurora-kinases-implications-for-model-N8c0rXTorD
SP - 1
EP - 10
VL - 4
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -