Members of the MAPK family can be found in every eukaryotic organism examined so far. In particular, both classical and atypical MAP kinases can be traced back to the root of the radiation of major eukaryotic groups. Terrestrial plants contain four groups of classical MAPKs (MAPK-A, MAPK-B, MAPK-C and MAPK-D) that are involved in response to myriads of abiotic stresses. However, none of these groups can be directly equated to the clusters of classical MAPKs found in opisthokonts (fungi and animals). In the latter, the major subgroups of classical MAPKs form the ERK/Fus3-like branch (that is further sub-divided in metazoans into ERK1/2 and ERK5 subgroups), and the p38/Hog1-like kinases (that has also split into the p38 and the JNK subgroups in multicellular animals). In addition, there are several MAPKs in both fungi and animals, whose origins are less clear, either due to high divergence (e.g. NLK), or due to possibly being an early offshoot to the entire MAPK family (ERK3, ERK4, ERK7). In vertebrates, due to the twin whole genome duplications after the cephalochordate/vertebrate split, there are several paralogs in every group. Thus ERK1 and ERK2 both correspond to the Drosophila kinase rolled, JNK1, JNK2 and JNK3 are all orthologous to the gene basket in Drosophila. Although among the p38 group, p38 alpha and beta are clearly paralogous pairs, and so are p38 gamma and delta in vertebrates, the timing of the base split is less clear, given that many metazoans already possess multiple p38 homologs (there are three p38-type kinases in Drosophila, Mpk2(p38a), p38b and p38c). The single ERK5 protein appears to fill a very specialized role (essential for vascular development in vertebrates) wherever it is present. This lineage has been deleted in protostomes, together with its upstream pathway components (MEKK2/3, MKK5), although they are clearly present in cnidarians, sponges and even in certain unicellular organisms (e.g. the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis) closely related to the origins of multicellular animals.
The split between classical and some atypical MAP kinases happened quite early. This is suggested not just by the high divergence between extant genes, but also recent discoveries of atypical MAPKs in primitive, basal eukaryotes. The genome sequencing of Giardia lamblia revealed the presence of two MAPK genes, one of them similar to the already-well-known mammalian MAPKs (ERKs, p38s, etc.), the other one showing similarities to the mammalian ERK7 protein. The situation is similar in the multicellular amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, where the ddERK1 protein appears to be a classical MAPK, while ddERK2 more closely resembles our ERK7 and ERK3/4 proteins. Atypical MAPKs can also be found in higher plants, although they are poorly known. Similar to the situation in mammals, most aspects of atypical MAPKs are uncharacterized due to the lack of research focus on this area.