Evolutionary Reconstruction of GABAergic Signaling Toolkit Across 89 Eukaryotes

Phylogenomic analysis traces the stepwise assembly of the inhibitory GABAergic system across 89 eukaryotic proteomes, spanning ~500–600 million years of evolution. Ankit Thakur reconstructed the complete toolkit—including enzymes, transporters, and receptors—using gene tree-species tree reconciliation. The dataset was published on figshare in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Identify evolutionary recruitment events for specific protein families like GAD1, ABAT, VIAAT, and GABA receptors using gene tree reconciliation outputs.
• Analyze the distribution patterns of GABA-B receptor subunits across taxa to infer ancestral promiscuous signaling states.
• Train models to predict the presence of GABAergic toolkit components in newly sequenced proteomes based on phylogenetic profiles.
• Correlate the emergence of specific components, such as ionotropic GABA-A receptors, with major functional transitions in Bilateria.

Strengths

• Analysis spans 89 eukaryotic proteomes, providing broad taxonomic coverage.
• Reconstructs the complete GABAergic toolkit including biosynthetic enzymes, catabolic enzymes, transporters, and receptors.
• Method employs gene tree-species tree reconciliation for robust evolutionary inference.

Limitations

• Specific row counts for gene families or alignment data are not provided in the description.
• The dataset's primary focus is on protein sequences and phylogenies, lacking associated phenotypic or expression data.
• Temporal coverage is inferred from evolutionary models rather than direct empirical sampling over time.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Ankit Thakur.

Collection Method

Phylogenomics and gene tree-species tree reconciliation applied to 89 eukaryotic proteomes.

Time Range

Evolutionary coverage spanning ~500–600 million years.

Freshness

Last updated April 2026.

Geography

Taxonomic coverage across Eukaryota; no specific geographic location.