We are currently studying the gene duplications and evolution that lead to the present day MAP Kinase pathways. These MAPK modules appear to exist in all eukaryotes and provide an excellent opportunity to compare the relatively simple fungal signaling pathways with the more complex mammalian pathways that have undergone several gene duplications at all levels of the cascade. Gene duplications in animals have led to new distinct pathways that are critical to several aspects of multi-cellular organisms. It is hoped that our studies will reveal important differences and similarities among these kinase families. Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the stress induced MAP kinase pathways in animals and yeast.
Black arrows represent protein phosphorylation and activation.
The large arrows represent gene duplication events from a common ancestor as deduced from Figure 2 Figure 2 Phylogenetic trees for the MEK and MAPK family. Branch lengths correspond to inferred rates of evolution. The bold lines corresponds to the period in time that the JNK and p38 pathways evolved into specific pathways since their gene duplications. This work is supported by Forbairt and the Higher Education Authority. Our primary objective is to develop an efficient means of identifying common genetic variants having only moderate influence on the complex disease process through association studies rather than linkage analysis.