Using ancient protein kinases to unravel a modern cancer drug’s mechanism

Macromolecular function is rooted in energy landscapes, where sequence determines not a single structure but an ensemble of conformations. Hence, evolution modifies a protein's function by altering its energy landscape. Here, we recreate the evolutionary pathway between two modern human oncogenes, Src and Abl, by reconstructing their common ancestors. Our evolutionary reconstruction combined with x-ray structures of the common ancestor and pre-steady-state kinetics reveals a detailed atomistic mechanism for selectivity of the successful cancer drug Gleevec. Gleevec affinity is gained during the evolutionary trajectory toward Abl and lost toward Src, primarily by shifting an induced-fit equilibrium that is also disrupted in the clinical T315I resistance mutation. This work reveals the mechanism of Gleevec specificity while offering insights into how energy landscapes evolve.