Fig. 1

Evolution of the Aurora kinase family: Aurora members evolved from a single ancestor gene, called Ipl1 and initially identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other Urochordata (renamed Tunicata). In invertebrates and non-mammalian vertebrates (e.g. Caenorhabditis elegans, Xenopus laevis and Drosophila melanogaster), the Aurora family is constituted by two orthologs: the AURKA (also called AIK1, ARK1, Eg2) and the AURKB (also called AIK2, ARK2, Eg1) ancestor genes. In mammals, AURKB/AURKC ancestor gene duplication gave rise to AURKB and AURKC paralogs. In human, AURKA, AURKB and AURKC map on chromosomes 20q13.2, 17p13.1, and 19q13.43 respectively