Using the evolutionary ages of genes to understand hallmark features of cancer

Abstract

Abstract The evolutionary age of a gene is closely tied to its role in cancer. As organisms evolved into multicellular forms, new pathways emerged to control core cellular processes formed in unicellular ancestors such as cell division, DNA replication and energy metabolism. Tumors rely on many of these core processes, at the same time as they suppress key pathways linked to the emergence of multicellularity. This suggests the guiding principles behind many hallmarks of cancer could be better understood in an evolutionary context, by investigating interactions between unicellular and multicellular genes and how they are disrupted in cancer. We have found the evolutionary histo..