Studying AMPK in an evolutionary context

Abstract

The AMPK protein kinase forms the heart of a complex network controlling the metabolic activities in a eukaryotic cell. Unraveling the steps by which this pathway evolved from its primordial roots in the last eukaryotic common ancestor to its present status in contemporary species has the potential to shed light on the evolution of eukaryotes. A homolog search for the proteins interacting in this pathway is considerably straightforward. However, interpreting the results, when reconstructing the evolutionary history of the pathway over larger evolutionary distances, bears a number of pitfalls. With this in mind, we present a protocol to trace a metabolic pathway across contemporary species and backward in evolutionary time. Alongside the individual analysis steps, we provide guidelines for data interpretation generalizing beyond the analysis of AMPK.