{
  "abstract": "Energy and nutrient regulation in eukaryotes depends on AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and target of rapamycin (TOR), yet their evolution is usually described by which components are present or absent. We surveyed 10 TOR- and AMPK-related targets across 210 eukaryotic species and paired that inventory with sequence- and structure-level measurements of the proteins that remain. Across 2100 species-by-target cells, 1255 were coded present, 683 absent and 162 not assessable, with repertoires differing among lineages. Phylogenetically corrected analyses recovered associations among a subset of component absences, especially within canonical complexes, although correlated non-detection in incomplete proteomes remains an alternative explanation. Sequence features varied substantially. In TOR, N-terminal HEAT-region divergence was associated with absence of several TOR-complex partners in discrete-state analyses. In AMPK, the activation-loop threonine was retained in every species with a readable site, while other features varied strongly: {beta} carbohydrate-binding-module conservation covaried with C-terminal length under the primary phylogenetic model, and AMPK{gamma} showed pronounced lineage-associated length variation. In the focal coccidian-group cohort, {gamma} sequences had a median length of 909 residues versus 396 in other sampled copies; the median was 924 among the nine sequences with a tree-based orthology determination, while two Eimeria sequences remain provisional candidates. Low primary nucleotide-contact-site identity was shared more broadly across sampled Apicomplexa. Together, these analyses reveal lineage-structured variation in TOR and AMPK at three levels: component repertoires, sequence features of retained proteins, and associations among components. Signaling architecture cannot be inferred from presence and absence alone.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Vermont"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "A. Patwardhan"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Brennan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "B. Martorelli Di Genova"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c8jqzpmm67t61.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.26.754375",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754375v1.full",
  "id": "c8jqzpmm67t61",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754375v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "evolutionary biology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214664562",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754375v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-26",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c8jqzpmm67t61.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:24:54Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.26.754375",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.26.754375v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:evolutionary biology",
      "subfield": "evolutionary-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Beyond presence and absence: a survey of TOR and AMPK across 210 eukaryotes reveals unusually long coccidian AMPKγ",
  "title_text": "Beyond presence and absence: a survey of TOR and AMPK across 210 eukaryotes reveals unusually long coccidian AMPKγ",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:24:54Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c8jqzpmm67t61",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}