Nuclear actin: ancient clue to evolution in eukaryotes?

Bajusz, Csaba and Borkúti, Péter and Kristó, Ildikó and Kovács, Zoltán and Abonyi, Csilla and Vilmos, Péter (2018) Nuclear actin: ancient clue to evolution in eukaryotes? HISTOCHEMISTRY AND CELL BIOLOGY, 150 (3). pp. 235-244. ISSN 0948-6143

Text BajuszCHistochemCellBiol2018.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (2MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Until recently it was widely accepted that the dynamic cytoskeletal matrix is exclusive to the cytoplasm of eukaryotes, evolving before the emergence of the cell nucleus to enable phagocytosis, cell motility and the sophisticated functioning of the endomembrane system within the cytosol. The discovery of the existence of a prokaryotic cytoskeleton has changed this picture significantly. As a result, the idea has taken shape that the appearance of actin occurred in the very first cell; therefore, the emergence of microfilaments precedes that of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton. The discovery of nuclear actin opened new perspective on the field, suggesting that the nuclear activities of actin reflect the functions of primordial actin-like proteins. In this paper, we review the recent literature to explore the evolutionary origin of nuclear actin. We conclude that both ancient and eukaryotic features of the actin world can be detected in the nucleus today, which supports the idea that the cytoskeleton attained significant eukaryotic innovations before the tandem evolution of the cytoskeleton and nucleus occurred.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item