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Updated: Jun 21, 2025

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The TSC22D, WNK, and NRBP gene families exhibit functional buffering and evolved with Metazoa for cell volume
Yu-Xi Xiao1, Seon Yong Lee2, Magali Aguilera-Uribe1
1Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Abstract:
The ability to sense and respond to osmotic fluctuations is critical for the maintenance of cellular integrity. We used gene co-essentiality analysis to identify an unappreciated relationship between TSC22D2, WNK1, and NRBP1 in regulating cell volume homeostasis. All of these genes have paralogs and are functionally buffered for osmo-sensing and cell volume control. Within seconds of hyperosmotic stress, TSC22D, WNK, and NRBP family members physically associate into biomolecular condensates, a process that is dependent on intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). A close examination of these protein families across metazoans revealed that TSC22D genes evolved alongside a domain in NRBPs that specifically binds to TSC22D proteins, which we have termed NbrT (NRBP binding region with TSC22D), and this co-evolution is accompanied by rapid IDR length expansion in WNK-family kinases. Our study reveals that TSC22D, WNK, and NRBP genes evolved in metazoans to co-regulate rapid cell volume changes in response to osmolarity.
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