Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40374681›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Evolutionary origins of self-sustained Kai protein circadian oscillators in cyanobacteria.

Atsushi Mukaiyama, Yoshihiko Furuike, Kumiko Ito-Miwa, Yasuhiro Onoue, Kota Horiuchi, Kanta Kondo, Eiki Yamashita, Shuji Akiyama

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. The Phenotypic Landscape of a Circadian Clock.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Atsushi Mukaiyama *Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Fukui Prefectural University, Eiheiji, 910-1195, Japan. amukai@fpu.ac.jp.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6736-631X
Yoshihiko Furuike *Research Center of Integrative Molecular Systems (CIMoS), Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan. furuike@ims.ac.jp.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4901-7394
Kumiko Ito-MiwaGraduate School of Science and Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8602, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3579-1311
Yasuhiro OnoueResearch Center of Integrative Molecular Systems (CIMoS), Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3152-0047
Kota HoriuchiResearch Center of Integrative Molecular Systems (CIMoS), Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0001-6066-8323
Kanta KondoResearch Center of Integrative Molecular Systems (CIMoS), Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0005-3996-2164
Eiki YamashitaInstitute for Protein Research, The University of Osaka, Suita, 565-0871, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4278-0039
Shuji AkiyamaResearch Center of Integrative Molecular Systems (CIMoS), Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan. akiyamas@ims.ac.jp.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7184-189X

Funding

MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) 17H06165MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) 22H04984MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) 24H02301
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Light-dark cycles affect photosynthetic efficiency in autotrophic cyanobacteria; therefore, determining whether ancient cyanobacteria possessed a self-sustained circadian clock when oxygenic photosynthetic systems were established is an important issue in chronobiology. Here we examine the oscillation of the clock protein KaiC in modern cyanobacteria, as well as the function and structure of ancestral Kai proteins, to determine the evolutionary origin of the self-sustained Kai-protein oscillators. The results show that the oldest double-domain KaiC in ancestral bacteria lacks the factors functionally and structurally essential for rhythmicity. The ancestral Kai proteins have acquired these factors through molecular evolution that occurred around Global Oxidation and Snowball Earth events, and are eventually inherited as a self-sustained circadian oscillator by the most recent common ancestor of cyanobacteria capable of oxygenic photosynthesis. This autonomous Kai protein oscillator is further inherited by most freshwater and marine cyanobacteria present today as an autotrophic basis for time-optimal acquisition and consumption of energy from oxygenic photosynthesis.

Indexed as

Bacterial ProteinsCircadian ClocksCircadian RhythmCircadian Rhythm Signaling Peptides and ProteinsCyanobacteriaEvolution, MolecularPhotosynthesisPhylogenyBacterial ProteinsCircadian Rhythm Signaling Peptides and ProteinsKaiC protein, cyanobacteria

Identifiers

PMID40374681
PMCPMC12081879

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.