Protein-Differenzierung: Entwicklung neuartiger Proteine im Laufe der Evolution

Comparative analysis of tubulin sequences

1. Information on the structure and evolution of tubulin has been obtained by comparing the available sequence data on 31 alpha-tubulins and 31 beta-tubulins. 2. Similar numbers of conserved amino acids are found amongst both alpha- and beta-tubulins (alpha: 48%, plus conservative substitutions: 72%; beta: 48%, plus conservative substitutions: 70%). About half of them are common to both subunits (23%, plus conservative substitutions: 45%). Four cysteines in the alpha-tubulins and 2 cysteines in the beta-tubulins are conserved. Only one cysteine (position 129) is conserved in all alpha- and beta-tubulins. 3. The longest unbroken stretch of identical amino acids between all the alpha- and beta-tubulins is found in positions 180-186 (Val-Val-Glu-Pro-Tyr-Asn), a region that appears to be important for binding the ribose moiety of GTP. Two other groups of amino acids implicated in GTP binding, one near position 70 and a glycine cluster at position 144 are also quite conserved. 4. Extra length differences between tubulin subunits, presumably present as extensions on the dimer surface, have been observed at position 50 and near position 360 in alpha-tubulins and in one case at position 57 in a beta-tubulin. 5. The introns of tubulin genes, many of them clustered in the first quarter of the tubulin coding region, do not appear to correspond to any particular structural or functional regions. 6. Mutation rates of tubulins vary considerably. The lowest alpha-tubulin homology (62.3%) is between a very divergent Drosophila alpha-tubulin and an alpha-tubulin from the yeast S. cerevisiae. The lowest beta-tubulin homology (63.3%) is between a yeast (S. cerevisiae) beta-tubulin and a mouse beta-tubulin expressed in hematopoietic tissue. In contrast, some mammalian and bird tubulins are almost identical. 7. Tubulin's heterogeneous C-termini are useful for identifying corresponding tubulins of different vertebrate species, many of which are remarkably conserved. Exceptions are the divergent beta-tubulins of erythrocyte and thrombocyte marginal bands. 8. We have proposed a model for tubulin evolution in metazoan organisms in which the release of structural constraints after gene duplication is a major cause of relatively rapid change.

Have deoxyribonucleotides and DNA been among the earliest biomolecules?

Unlike ribose chemistry, the chemistry of 2-deoxyribose precludes its formation or at least its incorporation into nucleotides under accepted "primordial soup" conditions; therefore RNA and DNA could not develop in parallel during the evolution of protocells. However, deoxyribonucleotides might have been formed abiotically by direct reduction of ribonucleotides in a primitive version of the biochemical pathway. This sequence of events, in which DNA lagged behind RNA in the assembly of genetic information for an unknown--probably short--period of time is suggested by the primitive traits (i.e., nucleotide binding, thiol redox chemistry, and metal ion catalysis) of present-day enzyme systems of deoxyribonucleotide biosynthesis. The reaction should be amenable to experimental study.

Tendamistat (HOE 467), a tight-binding alpha-amylase inhibitor from Streptomyces tendae 4158. Isolation, biochemical properties

Culture fluids of Streptomyces tendae 4158 (ATCC 31210) contain a new kind of polypeptide alpha-amylase inhibitor, tendamistat (HOE 467). Several methods of isolating this inhibitor are described, including two rapid crystallisation methods, which produce homogeneous material. A characteristic of tendamistat is its tight-binding, pH-independent inhibition kinetics and the specific inhibition of the mammalian alpha-amylase form a stoichiometric 1:1 complex, which cannot be separated into its individual components by sodium dodecyl sulphate or molecular sieve chromatography. Studies of the mode of action reveal that the alpha-amylase-inhibiting activity is linked to the intact disulphide bridges of the inhibitor. It is assumed that the multipoint protein-protein bond exists between the enzyme and tendamistat. It is shown that extracellular tendamistat inhibits amylase formed by streptomyces. We therefore assume a regulatory function in the microorganism. By-products of tendamistat, which possess similar enzyme-inhibiting properties, are also described.

Enzymic editing mechanisms and the origin of biological information transfer

Current knowledge of enzymic editing mechanisms in DNA replication, transcription and translation can be used to predict error rates in the absence of editing. Primitive enzymes which possessed synthetic activity but not yet editing mechanisms would have had extremely high error rates resulting in heterogeneous proteins. Based on present knowledge of molecular biology and biochemistry, it is concluded that the evolution of contemporary information transfer systems from primitive systems lacking such editing mechanisms remains an unsolved problem in theoretical biology.

Transmembrane electron transport and the neutral theory of evolution

Based on the concept of "pairs of basic functional states" the evolution of the first chemiosmotic mechanism of energy conversion is discussed in terms of point mutations, gene duplications and of the neutral theory of evolution. A model for estimating the overall probability of the evolutionary step in question is presented, both for the "selectionist" and "neutralist" position. It is concluded that, concerning the present stage of knowledge, the evolution of transmembrane electron transport is an unsolved problem in evolutionary biology.

Deoxyribonucleotide synthesis and the emergence of DNA in molecular evolution

DNA replication requires monomeric deoxyribonucleotides, which cannot be regarded as primary products of organic syntheses on a primitive earth. However, the present biosynthetic pathway--reductive elimination of the 2'-OH group from ribonucleotides, catalyzed by ribonucleotide reductases and thioredoxins--suggests an early, polyphyletic combination of protein-nucleotide interactions and metal catalysis. That key process had to precede the upcome of RNA-DNA dualism on the way from RNA-protein protocells to true organisms.