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Asymmetric Behavior in Ptyodactylus guttatus: Can a Digit Ratio Reflect Brain Laterality? Symmetry (Basel) 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/sym12091490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The digit ratio, an indicator of brain laterality, is the ratio of the second and fourth digits on the left (L24) or right foot (R24). Much of the research on the digit ratio and brain laterality focuses on primates, rather than other species such as reptiles. We tested whether the digit ratio in the gecko Ptyodactylus guttatus was associated with behaviors attributed to brain laterality. We examined risk-taking behavior (time spent under cover), foot preference (which foot was the first to start moving) and the side from which geckos bypassed an obstacle, in relation to the digit ratio. Geckos with longer fourth digits on their left hind foot (higher digit ratio) spent more time under cover. Geckos starting to move with their left leg were much more likely to bypass obstacles from the right side, and vice versa. This is the first evidence of laterality being associated with the digit ratio in reptiles. Comparisons among vertebrates are needed in order to decipher the evolutionary origin of the commonalities and peculiarities of brain asymmetry and disentangle the patterns and drivers of our evolutionary tree.
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Seligmann H. First arrived, first served: competition between codons for codon-amino acid stereochemical interactions determined early genetic code assignments. Naturwissenschaften 2020; 107:20. [PMID: 32367155 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-020-01676-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 03/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Stereochemical nucleotide-amino acid interactions, in the form of noncovalent nucleotide-amino acid interactions, potentially produced the genetic code's codon-amino acid assignments. Empirical estimates of single nucleotide-amino acid affinities on surfaces and in solution are used to test whether trinucleotide-amino acid affinities determined genetic code assignments pending the principle "first arrived, first served": presumed early amino acids have greater codon-amino acid affinities than ulterior ones. Here, these single nucleotide affinities are used to approximate all 64 × 20 trinucleotide-amino acid affinities. Analyses show that (1) on surfaces, genetic code codon-amino acid assignments tend to match high affinities for the amino acids that integrated earliest the genetic code (according to Wong's metabolic coevolution hypothesis between nucleotides and amino acids) and (2) in solution, the same principle holds for the anticodon-amino acid assignments. Affinity analyses match best genetic code assignments when assuming that trinucleotides competed for amino acids, rather than amino acids for trinucleotides. Codon-amino acid affinities stick better to genetic code assignments than anticodon-amino acid affinities. Presumably, two independent coding systems, on surfaces and in solution, converged, and formed the current translation system. Proto-translation on surfaces by direct codon-amino acid interactions without tRNA-like adaptors coadapted with a system emerging in solution by proto-tRNA anticodon-amino acid interactions. These systems assigned identical or similar cognates to codons on surfaces and to anticodons in solution. Results indicate that a prebiotic metabolism predated genetic code self-organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hervé Seligmann
- The National Natural History Collections, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel. .,Faculty of Medicine, Université Grenoble Alpes, Laboratory AGEIS EA 7407, Team Tools for e-Gnosis Medical & Labcom CNRS/UGA/OrangeLabs Telecoms4Health, F-38700, La Tronche, France.
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Demongeot J, Seligmann H. Deamination gradients within codons after 1<->2 position swap predict amino acid hydrophobicity and parallel β-sheet conformational preference. Biosystems 2020; 191-192:104116. [PMID: 32081715 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2020.104116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2019] [Revised: 12/04/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Deaminations C->T and A->G are frequent mutations producing nucleotide content gradients across genomes proportional to singlestrandedness during replication/transcription. Hence, within single codons, deamination risks increase from first to third codon positions, while second codon positions are functionally most crucial. Here genetic codes are analyzed assuming that after anticodons protected codons from deaminations, first and second codon positions swapped (N2N1N3->N1N2N3), with lowest deamination risks for N2 in presumed primitive N2N1N3 codons. N2N1N3, not standard N1N2N3, codon structure minimizes deaminations inversely proportionally to cognate amino acid hydrophobicity and parallel betasheet conformational preference. For N1N2N3, deamination minimization increases with genetic code integration order of cognate amino acids: during the presumed N2N1N3->N1N2N3 codon structure transition, protein synthesis combined direct codon-amino acid interactions for late amino acids and tRNA-based translation for early amino acids. Hence N2N1N3 codons would correspond to tRNA-free translation by spontaneous codon-amino acid affinities, and tRNA-mediated translation presumably caused N2N1N3->N1N2N3 swaps. Results show that rational, not arbitrary rules link codon and amino acid structures. Some analyses detect mitochondrial RNAs and peptides in public data corresponding to systematic position swaps, suggesting occasional swapping polymerase activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacques Demongeot
- Université Grenoble Alpes, Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory AGEIS EA 7407, Team Tools for e-Gnosis Medical, F-38700, La Tronche, France.
| | - Hervé Seligmann
- Université Grenoble Alpes, Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory AGEIS EA 7407, Team Tools for e-Gnosis Medical, F-38700, La Tronche, France; The National Natural History Collections, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91404, Jerusalem, Israel.
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Seligmann H. Protein Sequences Recapitulate Genetic Code Evolution. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2018; 16:177-189. [PMID: 30002789 PMCID: PMC6040577 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2018.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2018] [Revised: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 05/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Several hypotheses predict ranks of amino acid assignments to genetic code's codons. Analyses here show that average positions of amino acid species in proteins correspond to assignment ranks, in particular as predicted by Juke's neutral mutation hypothesis for codon assignments. In all tested protein groups, including co- and post-translationally folding proteins, 'recent' amino acids are on average closer to gene 5' extremities than 'ancient' ones. Analyses of pairwise residue contact energies matrices suggest that early amino acids stereochemically selected late ones that stablilize residue interactions within protein cores, presumably producing 5'-late-to-3'-early amino acid protein sequence gradients. The gradient might reduce protein misfolding, also after mutations, extending principles of neutral mutations to protein folding. Presumably, in self-perpetuating and self-correcting systems like the genetic code, initial conditions produce similarities between evolution of the process (the genetic code) and 'ontogeny' of resulting structures (here proteins), producing apparent teleonomy between process and product.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hervé Seligmann
- Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes, UMR MEPHI, Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, 19-21 boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France.
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Bijective codon transformations show genetic code symmetries centered on cytosine's coding properties. Theory Biosci 2017; 137:17-31. [PMID: 29147851 DOI: 10.1007/s12064-017-0258-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2017] [Accepted: 11/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Homology of some RNAs with template DNA requires systematic exchanges between nucleotides. Such exchanges produce 'swinger' RNA along 23 bijective transformations (nine symmetric, X ↔ Y; and 14 asymmetric, X → Y → Z → X, for example A ↔ C and A → C → G → A, respectively). Here, analyses compare amino acids coded by swinger-transformed codons to those coded by untransformed codons, defining coding invariance after transformations. Swinger transformations cluster according to coding invariance in four groups characterized by transformations into cytosine (C = C, T → C, A → C, and G → C). C's central mutational coding role shows that swinger transformations constrained genetic code genesis. Coding invariance post-transformations correlate positively/negatively with mitochondrial swinger transcription/lepidosaurian body temperature. Presumably, low/high temperatures stabilize/revert rare swinger polymerization modes, producing long swinger sequences/point mutations, respectively. Coding invariance after swinger transformations might compensate effects of swinger polymerizations in species with low body temperatures. Hypothetically, swinger transcription increased coding potential of RNA self-replicating protolife systems under heating/cooling cycles.
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Seligmann H, Warthi G. Genetic Code Optimization for Cotranslational Protein Folding: Codon Directional Asymmetry Correlates with Antiparallel Betasheets, tRNA Synthetase Classes. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2017; 15:412-424. [PMID: 28924459 PMCID: PMC5591391 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2017.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2017] [Revised: 07/20/2017] [Accepted: 08/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
A new codon property, codon directional asymmetry in nucleotide content (CDA), reveals a biologically meaningful genetic code dimension: palindromic codons (first and last nucleotides identical, codon structure XZX) are symmetric (CDA = 0), codons with structures ZXX/XXZ are 5'/3' asymmetric (CDA = - 1/1; CDA = - 0.5/0.5 if Z and X are both purines or both pyrimidines, assigning negative/positive (-/+) signs is an arbitrary convention). Negative/positive CDAs associate with (a) Fujimoto's tetrahedral codon stereo-table; (b) tRNA synthetase class I/II (aminoacylate the 2'/3' hydroxyl group of the tRNA's last ribose, respectively); and (c) high/low antiparallel (not parallel) betasheet conformation parameters. Preliminary results suggest CDA-whole organism associations (body temperature, developmental stability, lifespan). Presumably, CDA impacts spatial kinetics of codon-anticodon interactions, affecting cotranslational protein folding. Some synonymous codons have opposite CDA sign (alanine, leucine, serine, and valine), putatively explaining how synonymous mutations sometimes affect protein function. Correlations between CDA and tRNA synthetase classes are weaker than between CDA and antiparallel betasheet conformation parameters. This effect is stronger for mitochondrial genetic codes, and potentially drives mitochondrial codon-amino acid reassignments. CDA reveals information ruling nucleotide-protein relations embedded in reversed (not reverse-complement) sequences (5'-ZXX-3'/5'-XXZ-3').
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Affiliation(s)
- Hervé Seligmann
- Aix-Marseille Univ, Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes, UM 63, CNRS UMR7278, IRD 198, INSERM U1095, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Marseille, Postal code 13385, France
- Dept. Ecol Evol Behav, Alexander Silberman Inst Life Sci, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IL-91904 Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ganesh Warthi
- Aix-Marseille Univ, Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes, UM 63, CNRS UMR7278, IRD 198, INSERM U1095, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Marseille, Postal code 13385, France
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Responses of Natricine Snakes to Predatory Threat: A Mini-Review and Research Prospectus. J HERPETOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1670/15-103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Error compensation of tRNA misacylation by codon-anticodon mismatch prevents translational amino acid misinsertion. Comput Biol Chem 2011; 35:81-95. [PMID: 21470914 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2011.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2010] [Revised: 02/22/2011] [Accepted: 03/01/2011] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Codon-anticodon mismatches and tRNA misloadings cause translational amino acid misinsertions, producing dysfunctional proteins. Here I explore the original hypothesis whether mismatches tend to compensate misacylation, so as to insert the amino acid coded by the codon. This error compensation is promoted by the fact that codon-anticodon mismatch stabilities increase with tRNA misacylation potentials (predicted by 'tfam') by non-cognate amino acids coded by the mismatched codons for most tRNAs examined. Error compensation is independent of preferential misacylation by non-cognate amino acids physico-chemically similar to cognate amino acids, a phenomenon that decreases misinsertion impacts. Error compensation correlates negatively with (a) codon/anticodon abundance (in human mitochondria and Escherichia coli); (b) developmental instability (estimated by fluctuating asymmetry in bilateral counts of subdigital lamellae, in each of two lizard genera, Anolis and Sceloporus); and (c) pathogenicity of human mitochondrial tRNA polymorphisms. Patterns described here suggest that tRNA misacylation is sometimes compensated by codon-anticodon mismatches. Hence translation inserts the amino acid coded by the mismatched codon, despite mismatch and misloading. Results suggest that this phenomenon is sufficiently important to affect whole organism phenotypes, as shown by correlations with pathologies and morphological estimates of developmental stability.
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Seligmann H. The ambush hypothesis at the whole-organism level: Off frame, ‘hidden’ stops in vertebrate mitochondrial genes increase developmental stability. Comput Biol Chem 2010; 34:80-5. [DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2010.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2010] [Accepted: 03/02/2010] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
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SELIGMANN HERVÉ, MORAVEC JIŘÍ, WERNER YEHUDAHL. Morphological, functional and evolutionary aspects of tail autotomy and regeneration in the ‘living fossil’Sphenodon (Reptilia: Rhynchocephalia). Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.00975.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Seligmann H, Anderson SC, Autumn K, Bouskila A, Saf R, Tuniyev BS, Werner YL. Analysis of the locomotor activity of a nocturnal desert lizard (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Teratoscincus scincus) under varying moonlight. ZOOLOGY 2007; 110:104-17. [PMID: 17408939 DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2006.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2006] [Revised: 11/02/2006] [Accepted: 11/27/2006] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
1. This project seeks to identify determinants of the variation observed in the foraging behavior of predatory animals, especially in moonlight, using a lizard as a model. 2. Moonlight generally enhances the foraging efficiency of nocturnal visual predators and often depresses the locomotor activity of prey animals. Previous evidence has indicated for three different nocturnal species of smallish gecko lizards that they respond to moonlight by increasing their activity. 3. In this study some aspects of the foraging activity of the somewhat larger nocturnal psammophilous Teratoscincus scincus, observed near Repetek and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, were significantly depressed by moonlight, while several confounding factors (sex, maturity, size, sand temperature, hour, prior handling and observer effect) were taken into account. 4. This behavioral difference may relate to the eye size of the various species. 5. Additionally, a novel method of analyzing foraging behavior shows that in this species the duration of moves increases the duration of subsequent stationary pauses. Measurement of locomotor speed, yielding an average speed of 220% of the maximum aerobic speed, indicates a need for these pauses. Secondarily, pause duration decreases the duration of subsequent moves, precluding escalation of move duration. 6. The results of this and related projects advocate the taking into account of physiological and environmental factors that may affect an animal's foraging behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hervé Seligmann
- Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel
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Lachman E, Carmely H, Werner YL. Subspeciation befogged by the “Seligmann effect”: the case ofLaudakia stellio(Reptilia: Sauria: Agamidae) in southern Sinai, Egypt. J NAT HIST 2006. [DOI: 10.1080/00222930600861207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Werner YL, Takahashi H, Yasukawa Y, Ota H. Factors affecting foraging behaviour, as seen in a nocturnal ground lizard,Goniurosaurus kuroiwae kuroiwae. J NAT HIST 2006. [DOI: 10.1080/00222930600681746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Almog A, Bonen H, Herman K, Werner YL. Subspeciation or none? The hardun in the Aegean (Reptilia: Sauria: Agamidae:Laudakia stellio). J NAT HIST 2005. [DOI: 10.1080/00222930400001293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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