Evolution of permease diversity and energy-coupling mechanisms with special reference to the bacterial phosphotransferase system

Metabolism is required for chemotaxis to sugars in Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Chemotaxis towards carbohydrates is mediated, in enteric bacteria, either by the transport-independent, methylation-dependent chemotaxis pathway or by transport and phosphorylation via the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS). This study shows that Rhodobacter sphaeroides is chemotactic to a range of carbohydrates but the response involves neither the classical methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein (MCP) pathway nor the PTS transport pathway. The chemoattractant fructose was transported by a fructose-specific PTS system, but transport through this system did not appear to cause a chemotactic signal. Chemotaxis to sugars was inducible and occurred with the induction of carbohydrate transport systems and with substrate incorporation. A mutation of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (zwf) inhibited chemotaxis towards substrates metabolized by this pathway although transport was unaffected. Chemotaxis to other, unrelated, chemoattractants (e.g. succinate) was unaffected. These data, in conjunction with the fact that mannitol and fructose (which utilize different transport pathways) compete in chemotaxis assays, suggest that in R. sphaeroides the chemotactic signal is likely to be generated by metabolic intermediates or the activities of the electron-transport chain and not by a cell-surface receptor or the rate or mode of substrate transport.

Computer-aided analyses of transport protein sequences: gleaning evidence concerning function, structure, biogenesis, and evolution

Three-dimensional structures have been elucidated for very few integral membrane proteins. Computer methods can be used as guides for estimation of solute transport protein structure, function, biogenesis, and evolution. In this paper the application of currently available computer programs to over a dozen distinct families of transport proteins is reviewed. The reliability of sequence-based topological and localization analyses and the importance of sequence and residue conservation to structure and function are evaluated. Evidence concerning the nature and frequency of occurrence of domain shuffling, splicing, fusion, deletion, and duplication during evolution of specific transport protein families is also evaluated. Channel proteins are proposed to be functionally related to carriers. It is argued that energy coupling to transport was a late occurrence, superimposed on preexisting mechanisms of solute facilitation. It is shown that several transport protein families have evolved independently of each other, employing different routes, at different times in evolutionary history, to give topologically similar transmembrane protein complexes. The possible significance of this apparent topological convergence is discussed.

The mitochondrial carrier family of transport proteins: structural, functional, and evolutionary relationships

Energy transduction in mitochondria requires the transport of many specific metabolites across the inner membrane of this eukaryotic organelle. We have screened the protein sequence database for proteins homologous to the mitochondrial ATP/ADP exchange carrier, and the homologous proteins found were similarly screened to ensure that all currently sequenced members of the mitochondrial carrier family (MCF) had been identified. Thirty-seven proteins were identified, 28 of which were less than 90% identical to any other sequenced member of the MCF, and the latter proteins fell into 10 clusters or subfamilies as follows: (1) ATP/ADP exchangers of mammals, plants, algae, yeast, and fungi (11 members); (2) a bovine oxoglutarate/malate exchanger (one member); (3) mammalian uncoupling carriers (five members); (4) yeast and mammalian phosphate carriers (three members); (5) MRS proteins that suppress mitochondrial splicing defects in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (two members); (6) a putative peroxysomal carrier of Candida boidinii; (7) a putative solute carrier from the protozoan, Oxytricha fallax; (8) a putative solute carrier from S. cerevisiae; (9) a putative solute carrier from Zea mays, and (10) two putative solute carriers from the mammalian thyroid gland. The specificities of proteins in clusters 5 to 10 are not known. A multiple alignment and an evolutionary tree of the 28 selected members of the MCF were constructed, thus defining the conserved residues and the phylogenetic relationships of the proteins. Hydropathy plots of the homologous regions were determined and averaged, and the average hydropathy plots were evaluated for sequence similarity. These analyses revealed that the six transmembrane spanners exhibited varying degrees of sequence conservation and hydrophilicity. These spanners, and immediately adjacent hydrophilic loop regions, were more highly conserved than other regions of these proteins. All members of the MCF appear to consist of a tripartite structure with each of the three repeated segments being about 100 residues in length. Each repeat contains two transmembrane spanners, the first being more hydrophobic with conserved glycyl and prolyl residues, the second, preceded by a highly conserved glycyl residue, being more hydrophilic with largely conserved hydrophilic residues in certain positions. Five of the six spanners are followed by the largely conserved sequence (D/E)-Hy (K/R)[- = any residue; Hy = a hydrophobic residue]. Based on both intracluster and intercluster statistical comparisons, repeats 1, 2, and 3 are homologous, but repeats 1 are more similar to each other than they are to repeats 2 or 3 or repeats 2 or 3 are to each other.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)