A Case Study of Eukaryogenesis: The Evolution of Photoreception by Photolyase/Cryptochrome Proteins
- PDF / 2,674,625 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 10 Downloads / 170 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A Case Study of Eukaryogenesis: The Evolution of Photoreception by Photolyase/Cryptochrome Proteins Jennifer A. Miles1,2 · Thomas A. Davies1 · Robert D. Hayman1 · Georgia Lorenzen1 · Jamie Taylor1 · Mubeena Anjarwalla1 · Sammie J. R. Allen1 · John W. D. Graham1 · Paul C. Taylor1,2 Received: 16 January 2020 / Accepted: 5 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Eukaryogenesis, the origin of the eukaryotes, is still poorly understood. Herein, we show how a detailed all-kingdom phylogenetic analysis overlaid with a map of key biochemical features can provide valuable clues. The photolyase/cryptochrome family of proteins are well known to repair DNA in response to potentially harmful effects of sunlight and to entrain circadian rhythms. Phylogenetic analysis of photolyase/cryptochrome protein sequences from a wide range of prokaryotes and eukaryotes points to a number of horizontal gene transfer events between ancestral bacteria and ancestral eukaryotes. Previous experimental research has characterised patterns of tryptophan residues in these proteins that are important for photoreception, specifically a tryptophan dyad, a canonical tryptophan triad, an alternative tryptophan triad, a tryptophan tetrad and an alternative tetrad. Our results suggest that the spread of the different triad and tetrad motifs across the kingdoms of life accompanied the putative horizontal gene transfers and is consistent with multiple bacterial contributions to eukaryogenesis. Keywords Cryptochrome · Photolyase · Cyanobacteria · Horizontal gene transfer · Eukaryogenesis
Introduction It is widely accepted that eukaryogenesis involved an endosymbiosis between at least one archaeon, probably from the Asgard lineage, and at least one bacterium, most likely an ancestral α-proteobacterium (López-García and Moreira 2019). More controversial and less well understood is the possibility of further symbioses or other significant gene flows from bacteria to ancestral eukaryotes (Pittis and Gabaldón 2016; Spang et al. 2019). Both the order in which these key evolutionary events occurred and their timeline are unclear. Characterising the emergence of animals from Handling Editor: Alan Christensen. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-020-09965-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Paul C. Taylor [email protected] 1
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
2
this ancient mix is of particular interest and offers a useful perspective from which to explore the major transitions (Paps 2018). In addition to the large-scale phylogenomic studies that underpin our emerging understanding of eukaryogenesis, the field may benefit from case studies of the evolution of individual genes/proteins across the kingdoms of life. Researchers are finding surprising similarities in chemical s
Data Loading...
