RESEARCH ARTICLE Emergence and evolution of an interaction between intrinsically disordered proteins Greta Hultqvist1*, Emma A˚ berg1, Carlo Camilloni2,3,4, Gustav N Sundell1, Eva Andersson1, Jakob Dogan1,5, Celestine N Chi6, Michele Vendruscolo2*, Per Jemth1* 1Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; 2Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 3Department of Chemistry, Technische Universita¨ t Mu¨ nchen, Mu¨ nchen, Germany; 4Institute for Advanced Study, Technische Universita¨ t Mu¨ nchen, Mu¨ nchen, Germany; 5Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; 6Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Eidgeno¨ ssische Technische Hochschule Zu¨ rich, Zu¨ rich, Switzerland Abstract Protein-protein interactions involving intrinsically disordered proteins are important for cellular function and common in all organisms. However, it is not clear how such interactions emerge and evolve on a molecular level. We performed phylogenetic reconstruction, resurrection and biophysical characterization of two interacting disordered protein domains, CID and NCBD. CID appeared after the divergence of protostomes and deuterostomes 450–600 million years ago, while NCBD was present in the protostome/deuterostome ancestor. The most ancient CID/NCBD K formed a relatively weak complex ( d~5 mM). At the time of the first vertebrate-specific whole K genome duplication, the affinity had increased ( d~200 nM) and was maintained in further *For correspondence: greta. speciation. Experiments together with molecular modeling using NMR chemical shifts suggest that
[email protected] (GH); new interactions involving intrinsically disordered proteins may evolve via a low-affinity complex
[email protected] (MV); Per. which is optimized by modulating direct interactions as well as dynamics, while tolerating several
[email protected] (PJ) potentially disruptive mutations.