Exaptive Evolution of Target of Rapamycin Signaling in Multicellular Eukaryotes

Abstract

Target of rapamycin (TOR) is a protein kinase that coordinates metabolism with nutrient and energy availability in eukaryotes. TOR and its primary interactors, RAPTOR and LST8, have been remarkably evolutionarily static since they arose in the unicellular last common ancestor of plants, fungi, and animals, but the upstream regulatory mechanisms and downstream effectors of TOR signaling have evolved considerable diversity in these separate lineages. Here, I focus on the roles of exaptation and adaptation in the evolution of novel signaling axes in the TOR network in multicellular eukaryotes, concentrating especially on amino acid sensing, cell-cell signaling, and cell differentiation.

Keywords: PIKKs; evolution; exaptation; mTOR; metabolism; multicellularity; nutrient sensing; plasmodesmata; ribosome biogenesis; target of rapamycin.