1
|
Fernie AR, de Vries S, de Vries J. Evolution of plant metabolism: the state-of-the-art. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230347. [PMID: 39343029 PMCID: PMC11449224 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2024] [Revised: 07/11/2024] [Accepted: 07/12/2024] [Indexed: 10/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Immense chemical diversity is one of the hallmark features of plants. This chemo-diversity is mainly underpinned by a highly complex and biodiverse biochemical machinery. Plant metabolic enzymes originated and were inherited from their eukaryotic and prokaryotic ancestors and further diversified by the unprecedentedly high rates of gene duplication and functionalization experienced in land plants. Unlike prokaryotic microbes, which display frequent horizontal gene transfer events and multiple inputs of energy and organic carbon, land plants predominantly rely on organic carbon generated from CO2 and have experienced relatively few gene transfers during their recent evolutionary history. As such, plant metabolic networks have evolved in a stepwise manner using existing networks as a starting point and under various evolutionary constraints. That said, until recently, the evolution of only a handful of metabolic traits had been extensively investigated and as such, the evolution of metabolism has received a fraction of the attention of, the evolution of development, for example. Advances in metabolomics and next-generation sequencing have, however, recently led to a deeper understanding of how a wide range of plant primary and specialized (secondary) metabolic pathways have evolved both as a consequence of natural selection and of domestication and crop improvement processes. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of plant metabolism'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alisdair R. Fernie
- Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, Potsdam-Golm14476, Germany
| | - Sophie de Vries
- Department of Applied Bioinformatics, University of Goettingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Goldschmidtstr. 1, Goettingen37077, Germany
| | - Jan de Vries
- Department of Applied Bioinformatics, University of Goettingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Goldschmidtstr. 1, Goettingen37077, Germany
- University of Goettingen, Campus Institute Data Science (CIDAS), Goldschmidstr. 1, Goettingen37077, Germany
- Department of Applied Bioinformatics, University of Goettingen, Goettingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB), Goldschmidtstr. 1, Goettingen37077, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Speijer D. "Social Darwinism" revisited. Bioessays 2024; 46:e2400180. [PMID: 39072770 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202400180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2024] [Accepted: 07/19/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Dave Speijer
- Medical Biochemistry, Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Parker J. Organ Evolution: Emergence of Multicellular Function. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 2024; 40:51-74. [PMID: 38960448 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111822-121620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
Instances of multicellularity across the tree of life have fostered the evolution of complex organs composed of distinct cell types that cooperate, producing emergent biological functions. How organs originate is a fundamental evolutionary problem that has eluded deep mechanistic and conceptual understanding. Here I propose a cell- to organ-level transitions framework, whereby cooperative division of labor originates and becomes entrenched between cell types through a process of functional niche creation, cell-type subfunctionalization, and irreversible ratcheting of cell interdependencies. Comprehending this transition hinges on explaining how these processes unfold molecularly in evolving populations. Recent single-cell transcriptomic studies and analyses of terminal fate specification indicate that cellular functions are conferred by modular gene expression programs. These discrete components of functional variation may be deployed or combined within cells to introduce new properties into multicellular niches, or partitioned across cells to establish division of labor. Tracing gene expression program evolution at the level of single cells in populations may reveal transitions toward organ complexity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Parker
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA;
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Daëron M. The function of antibodies. Immunol Rev 2024. [PMID: 39180466 DOI: 10.1111/imr.13387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/26/2024]
Abstract
Antibodies have multiple biological activities. They can both recognize and act on specific antigens. They can protect against and cause serious diseases, enhance and inhibit antibody responses, enable survival, and threaten life. Which among their many, often antagonistic properties explains that antibodies were selected half a billion years ago and transmitted to mammals across millions of generations? In other words, what is the function of antibodies? Here I examine how their structure endows antibodies with unique cognitive and effector properties that contribute to their multiple biological activities. I show that rather than specific properties, antibodies have large functional repertoires. They have a cognitive repertoire and an effector repertoire that are selected from larger available repertoires, themselves drawn at random from even larger virtual repertoires. These virtual repertoires provide the adaptive immune system with immense, constantly renewed, reservoirs of cognitive and effector functions that can be actualized at any time according to the context. I propose that such a flexibility, which enables living individuals to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, and even deal with an unknown future, may provide a better selective advantage than any particular function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marc Daëron
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML), Aix Marseille Université-CNRS-Inserm, Marseille, France
- Institut Pasteur-Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- Institut d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques (IHPST), Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne-CNRS, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Veeraragavan S, Johansen M, Johnston IG. Evolution and maintenance of mtDNA gene content across eukaryotes. Biochem J 2024; 481:1015-1042. [PMID: 39101615 PMCID: PMC11346449 DOI: 10.1042/bcj20230415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2024] [Revised: 06/26/2024] [Accepted: 07/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024]
Abstract
Across eukaryotes, most genes required for mitochondrial function have been transferred to, or otherwise acquired by, the nucleus. Encoding genes in the nucleus has many advantages. So why do mitochondria retain any genes at all? Why does the set of mtDNA genes vary so much across different species? And how do species maintain functionality in the mtDNA genes they do retain? In this review, we will discuss some possible answers to these questions, attempting a broad perspective across eukaryotes. We hope to cover some interesting features which may be less familiar from the perspective of particular species, including the ubiquity of recombination outside bilaterian animals, encrypted chainmail-like mtDNA, single genes split over multiple mtDNA chromosomes, triparental inheritance, gene transfer by grafting, gain of mtDNA recombination factors, social networks of mitochondria, and the role of mtDNA dysfunction in feeding the world. We will discuss a unifying picture where organismal ecology and gene-specific features together influence whether organism X retains mtDNA gene Y, and where ecology and development together determine which strategies, importantly including recombination, are used to maintain the mtDNA genes that are retained.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Maria Johansen
- Department of Mathematics, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Iain G. Johnston
- Department of Mathematics, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Computational Biology Unit, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Badonyi M, Marsh JA. Hallmarks and evolutionary drivers of cotranslational protein complex assembly. FEBS J 2024; 291:3557-3567. [PMID: 37202910 DOI: 10.1111/febs.16869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Recent discoveries have highlighted the prevalence of cotranslational assembly in proteomes, revealing a range of mechanisms that enables the assembly of protein complex subunits on the ribosome. Structural analyses have uncovered emergent properties that may inherently control whether a subunit undergoes cotranslational assembly. However, the evolutionary paths that have yielded such complexes over an extended timescale remain largely unclear. In this review, we reflect on historical experiments that contributed to the field, including breakthroughs that have made possible the proteome-wide detection of cotranslational assembly, and the technical challenges yet to be overcome. We introduce a simple framework that encapsulates the hallmarks of cotranslational assembly and discuss how results from new experiments are shaping our view of the mechanistic, structural and evolutionary factors driving the phenomenon.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mihaly Badonyi
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, UK
| | - Joseph A Marsh
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, UK
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Sanita Lima M, Silva Domingues D, Rossi Paschoal A, Smith DR. Long-read RNA-Seq for the discovery of long noncoding and antisense RNAs in plant organelles. PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM 2024; 176:e14418. [PMID: 39004808 DOI: 10.1111/ppl.14418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
Plant organelle transcription has been studied for decades. As techniques advanced, so did the fields of mitochondrial and plastid transcriptomics. The current view is that organelle genomes are pervasively transcribed, irrespective of their size, content, structure, and taxonomic origin. However, little is known about the nature of organelle noncoding transcriptomes, including pervasively transcribed noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). Next-generation sequencing data have uncovered small ncRNAs in the organelles of plants and other organisms, but long ncRNAs remain poorly understood. Here, we argue that publicly available third-generation long-read RNA sequencing data from plants can provide a fine-tuned picture of long ncRNAs within organelles. Indeed, given their bloated architectures, plant mitochondrial genomes are well suited for studying pervasive transcription of ncRNAs. Ultimately, we hope to showcase this new avenue of plant research while also underlining the limitations of the proposed approach.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Douglas Silva Domingues
- Department of Genetics, "Luiz de Queiroz" College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
| | - Alexandre Rossi Paschoal
- Department of Computer Science, Bioinformatics and Pattern Recognition Group (BIOINFO-CP), Federal University of Technology-Paraná-UTFPR, Cornélio Procópio, PR, Brazil
| | - David Roy Smith
- Department of Biology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Sanita Lima M, Silva Domingues D, Rossi Paschoal A, Smith DR. Long-read RNA sequencing can probe organelle genome pervasive transcription. Brief Funct Genomics 2024:elae026. [PMID: 38880995 DOI: 10.1093/bfgp/elae026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2024] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/18/2024] Open
Abstract
40 years ago, organelle genomes were assumed to be streamlined and, perhaps, unexciting remnants of their prokaryotic past. However, the field of organelle genomics has exposed an unparallel diversity in genome architecture (i.e. genome size, structure, and content). The transcription of these eccentric genomes can be just as elaborate - organelle genomes are pervasively transcribed into a plethora of RNA types. However, while organelle protein-coding genes are known to produce polycistronic transcripts that undergo heavy posttranscriptional processing, the nature of organelle noncoding transcriptomes is still poorly resolved. Here, we review how wet-lab experiments and second-generation sequencing data (i.e. short reads) have been useful to determine certain types of organelle RNAs, particularly noncoding RNAs. We then explain how third-generation (long-read) RNA-Seq data represent the new frontier in organelle transcriptomics. We show that public repositories (e.g. NCBI SRA) already contain enough data for inter-phyla comparative studies and argue that organelle biologists can benefit from such data. We discuss the prospects of using publicly available sequencing data for organelle-focused studies and examine the challenges of such an approach. We highlight that the lack of a comprehensive database dedicated to organelle genomics/transcriptomics is a major impediment to the development of a field with implications in basic and applied science.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matheus Sanita Lima
- Department of Biology, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Douglas Silva Domingues
- Department of Genetics, "Luiz de Queiroz" College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Avenida Padua Dias 11, Piracicaba, SP 13418-900, Brazil
| | - Alexandre Rossi Paschoal
- Department of Computer Science, Bioinformatics and Pattern Recognition Group (BIOINFO-CP), Federal University of Technology - Paraná - UTFPR, Avenida Alberto Carazzai 1640, Cornélio Procópio, PR 86300000, Brazil
| | - David Roy Smith
- Department of Biology, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Gajarsky M, Stadlbauer P, Sponer J, Cucchiarini A, Dobrovolna M, Brazda V, Mergny JL, Trantirek L, Lenarcic Zivkovic M. DNA Quadruplex Structure with a Unique Cation Dependency. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202313226. [PMID: 38143239 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202313226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
DNA quadruplex structures provide an additional layer of regulatory control in genome maintenance and gene expression and are widely used in nanotechnology. We report the discovery of an unprecedented tetrastranded structure formed from a native G-rich DNA sequence originating from the telomeric region of Caenorhabditis elegans. The structure is defined by multiple properties that distinguish it from all other known DNA quadruplexes. Most notably, the formation of a stable so-called KNa-quadruplex (KNaQ) requires concurrent coordination of K+ and Na+ ions at two distinct binding sites. This structure provides novel insight into G-rich DNA folding under ionic conditions relevant to eukaryotic cell physiology and the structural evolution of telomeric DNA. It highlights the differences between the structural organization of human and nematode telomeric DNA, which should be considered when using C. elegans as a model in telomere biology, particularly in drug screening applications. Additionally, the absence/presence of KNaQ motifs in the host/parasite introduces an intriguing possibility of exploiting the KNaQ fold as a plausible antiparasitic drug target. The structure's unique shape and ion dependency and the possibility of controlling its folding by using low-molecular-weight ligands can be used for the design or discovery of novel recognition DNA elements and sensors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Gajarsky
- Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic
- Current address: Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, 50931, Cologne, Germany
| | - Petr Stadlbauer
- Institute of Biophysics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Kralovopolska 135, 61265, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jiri Sponer
- Institute of Biophysics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Kralovopolska 135, 61265, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Anne Cucchiarini
- Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic
- Laboratoire d'Optique et Biosciences, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Inserm, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 91120, Palaiseau, France
| | - Michaela Dobrovolna
- Institute of Biophysics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Kralovopolska 135, 61265, Brno, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 464, 61200, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Vaclav Brazda
- Institute of Biophysics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Kralovopolska 135, 61265, Brno, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 464, 61200, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jean-Louis Mergny
- Institute of Biophysics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Kralovopolska 135, 61265, Brno, Czech Republic
- Laboratoire d'Optique et Biosciences, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Inserm, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 91120, Palaiseau, France
| | - Lukas Trantirek
- Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Martina Lenarcic Zivkovic
- Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, 62500, Brno, Czech Republic
- Slovenian NMR Centre, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Liu AK, Kaeser B, Chen L, West-Roberts J, Taylor-Kearney LJ, Lavy A, Günzing D, Li WJ, Hammel M, Nogales E, Banfield JF, Shih PM. Deep-branching evolutionary intermediates reveal structural origins of form I rubisco. Curr Biol 2023; 33:5316-5325.e3. [PMID: 37979578 PMCID: PMC11309020 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/20/2023]
Abstract
The enzyme rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) catalyzes the majority of biological carbon fixation on Earth. Although the vast majority of rubiscos across the tree of life assemble as homo-oligomers, the globally predominant form I enzyme-found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria-forms a unique hetero-oligomeric complex. The recent discovery of a homo-oligomeric sister group to form I rubisco (named form I') has filled a key gap in our understanding of the enigmatic origins of the form I clade. However, to elucidate the series of molecular events leading to the evolution of form I rubisco, we must examine more distantly related sibling clades to contextualize the molecular features distinguishing form I and form I' rubiscos. Here, we present a comparative structural study retracing the evolutionary history of rubisco that reveals a complex structural trajectory leading to the ultimate hetero-oligomerization of the form I clade. We structurally characterize the oligomeric states of deep-branching form Iα and I'' rubiscos recently discovered from metagenomes, which represent key evolutionary intermediates preceding the form I clade. We further solve the structure of form I'' rubisco, revealing the molecular determinants that likely primed the enzyme core for the transition from a homo-oligomer to a hetero-oligomer. Our findings yield new insight into the evolutionary trajectory underpinning the adoption and entrenchment of the prevalent assembly of form I rubisco, providing additional context when viewing the enzyme family through the broader lens of protein evolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Albert K Liu
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Feedstocks Division, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA, USA; Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Benjamin Kaeser
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - LinXing Chen
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jacob West-Roberts
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Leah J Taylor-Kearney
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Feedstocks Division, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | - Adi Lavy
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Damian Günzing
- Department of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
| | - Wen-Jun Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P.R. China; State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, P.R. China
| | - Michal Hammel
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Eva Nogales
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Jillian F Banfield
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3053, Australia; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Patrick M Shih
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Feedstocks Division, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA, USA; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Gondhalekar R, Kempes CP, McGlynn SE. Scaling of Protein Function across the Tree of Life. Genome Biol Evol 2023; 15:evad214. [PMID: 38007693 PMCID: PMC10715193 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/12/2023] [Indexed: 11/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Scaling laws are a powerful way to compare genomes because they put all organisms onto a single curve and reveal nontrivial generalities as genomes change in size. The abundance of functional categories across genomes has previously been found to show power law scaling with respect to the total number of functional categories, suggesting that universal constraints shape genomic category abundance. Here, we look across the tree of life to understand how genome evolution may be related to functional scaling. We revisit previous observations of functional genome scaling with an expanded taxonomy by analyzing 3,726 bacterial, 220 archaeal, and 79 unicellular eukaryotic genomes. We find that for some functional classes, scaling is best described by multiple exponents, revealing previously unobserved shifts in scaling as genome-encoded protein annotations increase or decrease. Furthermore, we find that scaling varies between phyletic groups at both the domain and phyla levels and is less universal than previously thought. This variability in functional scaling is not related to taxonomic phylogeny resolved at the phyla level, suggesting that differences in cell plan or physiology outweigh broad patterns of taxonomic evolution. Since genomes are maintained and replicated by the functional proteins encoded by them, these results point to functional degeneracy between taxonomic groups and unique evolutionary trajectories toward these. We also find that individual phyla frequently span scaling exponents of functional classes, revealing that individual clades can move across scaling exponents. Together, our results reveal unique shifts in functions across the tree of life and highlight that as genomes grow or shrink, proteins of various functions may be added or lost.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Riddhi Gondhalekar
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Shawn Erin McGlynn
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Prokopchuk G, Butenko A, Dacks JB, Speijer D, Field MC, Lukeš J. Lessons from the deep: mechanisms behind diversification of eukaryotic protein complexes. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1910-1927. [PMID: 37336550 PMCID: PMC10952624 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Revised: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
Genetic variation is the major mechanism behind adaptation and evolutionary change. As most proteins operate through interactions with other proteins, changes in protein complex composition and subunit sequence provide potentially new functions. Comparative genomics can reveal expansions, losses and sequence divergence within protein-coding genes, but in silico analysis cannot detect subunit substitutions or replacements of entire protein complexes. Insights into these fundamental evolutionary processes require broad and extensive comparative analyses, from both in silico and experimental evidence. Here, we combine data from both approaches and consider the gamut of possible protein complex compositional changes that arise during evolution, citing examples of complete conservation to partial and total replacement by functional analogues. We focus in part on complexes in trypanosomes as they represent one of the better studied non-animal/non-fungal lineages, but extend insights across the eukaryotes by extensive comparative genomic analysis. We argue that gene loss plays an important role in diversification of protein complexes and hence enhancement of eukaryotic diversity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Galina Prokopchuk
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of SciencesBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
- Faculty of ScienceUniversity of South BohemiaBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
| | - Anzhelika Butenko
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of SciencesBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
- Faculty of ScienceUniversity of South BohemiaBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
- Life Science Research Centre, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of OstravaChittussiho 983/10Ostrava71000Czech Republic
| | - Joel B. Dacks
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of SciencesBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of MedicineUniversity of Alberta1‐124 Clinical Sciences Building, 11350‐83 AvenueEdmontonT6G 2R3AlbertaCanada
- Centre for Life's Origins and Evolution, Department of Genetics, Evolution and the EnvironmentUniversity College LondonDarwin Building, Gower StreetLondonWC1E 6BTUK
| | - Dave Speijer
- Medical Biochemistry, Amsterdam UMCUniversity of AmsterdamMeibergdreef 15Amsterdam1105 AZThe Netherlands
| | - Mark C. Field
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of SciencesBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
- School of Life SciencesUniversity of DundeeDow StreetDundeeDD1 5EHScotlandUK
| | - Julius Lukeš
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of SciencesBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
- Faculty of ScienceUniversity of South BohemiaBranišovská 1160/31České Budějovice37005Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Müller M, Sauter D. The more the merrier? Gene duplications in the coevolution of primate lentiviruses with their hosts. Curr Opin Virol 2023; 62:101350. [PMID: 37651832 DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2023.101350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Revised: 07/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
Gene duplications are a major source of genetic diversity and evolutionary innovation. Newly formed, duplicated genes can provide a selection advantage in constantly changing environments. One such example is the arms race of HIV and related lentiviruses with innate immune responses of their hosts. In recent years, it has become clear that both sides have benefited from multiple gene duplications. For example, amplifications of antiretroviral factors such as apolipoprotein-B mRNA-editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide-3 (APOBEC3), interferon-induced transmembrane protein (IFITM), and tripartite motif-containing (TRIM) proteins have expanded the repertoire of cell-intrinsic defense mechanisms and increased the barriers to retroviral replication and cross-species transmission. Conversely, recent studies have also shed light on how duplications of accessory lentiviral genes and Long terminal repeat (LTR) elements can provide a selection advantage in the coevolution with antiviral host proteins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Müller
- Institute for Medical Virology and Epidemiology of Viral Diseases, University Hospital Tübingen, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 6, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Daniel Sauter
- Institute for Medical Virology and Epidemiology of Viral Diseases, University Hospital Tübingen, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Straße 6, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Betancourt Moreira K, Collier MP, Leitner A, Li KH, Lachapel ILS, McCarthy F, Opoku-Nsiah KA, Morales-Polanco F, Barbosa N, Gestaut D, Samant RS, Roh SH, Frydman J. A hierarchical assembly pathway directs the unique subunit arrangement of TRiC/CCT. Mol Cell 2023; 83:3123-3139.e8. [PMID: 37625406 PMCID: PMC11209756 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2023.07.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023]
Abstract
How the essential eukaryotic chaperonin TRiC/CCT assembles from eight distinct subunits into a unique double-ring architecture remains undefined. We show TRiC assembly involves a hierarchical pathway that segregates subunits with distinct functional properties until holocomplex (HC) completion. A stable, likely early intermediate arises from small oligomers containing CCT2, CCT4, CCT5, and CCT7, contiguous subunits that constitute the negatively charged hemisphere of the TRiC chamber, which has weak affinity for unfolded actin. The remaining subunits CCT8, CCT1, CCT3, and CCT6, which comprise the positively charged chamber hemisphere that binds unfolded actin more strongly, join the ring individually. Unincorporated late-assembling subunits are highly labile in cells, which prevents their accumulation and premature substrate binding. Recapitulation of assembly in a recombinant system demonstrates that the subunits in each hemisphere readily form stable, noncanonical TRiC-like HCs with aberrant functional properties. Thus, regulation of TRiC assembly along a biochemical axis disfavors the formation of stable alternative chaperonin complexes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Alexander Leitner
- Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Kathy H Li
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Natália Barbosa
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Daniel Gestaut
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Rahul S Samant
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Soung-Hun Roh
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Judith Frydman
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Gollo G. On the emergence of eukaryotes and other enigmas. Biosystems 2023; 231:104958. [PMID: 37442362 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.104958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 05/20/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023]
Abstract
The origin of eukaryotes is one of the most fundamental problems in the entire history of life. How did eukaryotes arise? Previous attempts to solve the problem are very far from an answer, at best they propose a solution to one of the various innovations that ended up culminating in eukaryotes. Based on a hypothetical-deductive methodology, as usual in evolutionary issues, I propose that eukaryotes emerged from the endosymbiotic association between a flagellate parasite and its host, of which the sperm is the main vestige. The hypothesis unifies the solution to the vast array of acquisitions shared by eukaryotes that differentiate them from other beings, remarkably cell nucleus, mitosis, meiosis and sexual reproduction. The solution has a deep impact on understanding the origin and functioning of all complex life forms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Gollo
- Universidade de Brasília, Eecologia, Brasilia, DF, Brazil.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Valach M, Benz C, Aguilar LC, Gahura O, Faktorová D, Zíková A, Oeffinger M, Burger G, Gray MW, Lukeš J. Miniature RNAs are embedded in an exceptionally protein-rich mitoribosome via an elaborate assembly pathway. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:6443-6460. [PMID: 37207340 PMCID: PMC10325924 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The mitochondrial ribosome (mitoribosome) has diverged drastically from its evolutionary progenitor, the bacterial ribosome. Structural and compositional diversity is particularly striking in the phylum Euglenozoa, with an extraordinary protein gain in the mitoribosome of kinetoplastid protists. Here we report an even more complex mitoribosome in diplonemids, the sister-group of kinetoplastids. Affinity pulldown of mitoribosomal complexes from Diplonema papillatum, the diplonemid type species, demonstrates that they have a mass of > 5 MDa, contain as many as 130 integral proteins, and exhibit a protein-to-RNA ratio of 11:1. This unusual composition reflects unprecedented structural reduction of ribosomal RNAs, increased size of canonical mitoribosomal proteins, and accretion of three dozen lineage-specific components. In addition, we identified >50 candidate assembly factors, around half of which contribute to early mitoribosome maturation steps. Because little is known about early assembly stages even in model organisms, our investigation of the diplonemid mitoribosome illuminates this process. Together, our results provide a foundation for understanding how runaway evolutionary divergence shapes both biogenesis and function of a complex molecular machine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matus Valach
- Department of Biochemistry and Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Corinna Benz
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Lisbeth C Aguilar
- Center for Genetic and Neurological Diseases, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Ondřej Gahura
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Drahomíra Faktorová
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
- Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Alena Zíková
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
- Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Marlene Oeffinger
- Department of Biochemistry and Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Center for Genetic and Neurological Diseases, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Gertraud Burger
- Department of Biochemistry and Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Michael W Gray
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Institute of Comparative Genomics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Julius Lukeš
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
- Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
John YJ, Caldwell L, McCoy DE, Braganza O. Dead rats, dopamine, performance metrics, and peacock tails: Proxy failure is an inherent risk in goal-oriented systems. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 47:e67. [PMID: 37357710 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x23002753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. For example, when standardized test scores in education become targets, teachers may start "teaching to the test," leading to breakdown of the relationship between the measure - test performance - and the underlying goal - quality education. Similar phenomena have been named and described across a broad range of contexts, such as economics, academia, machine learning, and ecology. Yet it remains unclear whether these phenomena bear only superficial similarities, or if they derive from some fundamental unifying mechanism. Here, we propose such a unifying mechanism, which we label proxy failure. We first review illustrative examples and their labels, such as the "cobra effect," "Goodhart's law," and "Campbell's law." Second, we identify central prerequisites and constraints of proxy failure, noting that it is often only a partial failure or divergence. We argue that whenever incentivization or selection is based on an imperfect proxy measure of the underlying goal, a pressure arises that tends to make the proxy a worse approximation of the goal. Third, we develop this perspective for three concrete contexts, namely neuroscience, economics, and ecology, highlighting similarities and differences. Fourth, we outline consequences of proxy failure, suggesting it is key to understanding the structure and evolution of goal-oriented systems. Our account draws on a broad range of disciplines, but we can only scratch the surface within each. We thus hope the present account elicits a collaborative enterprise, entailing both critical discussion as well as extensions in contexts we have missed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yohan J John
- Neural Systems Laboratory, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Dakota E McCoy
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Oliver Braganza
- Institute for Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- Institute for Socioeconomics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Small I, Melonek J, Bohne AV, Nickelsen J, Schmitz-Linneweber C. Plant organellar RNA maturation. THE PLANT CELL 2023; 35:1727-1751. [PMID: 36807982 PMCID: PMC10226603 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koad049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Plant organellar RNA metabolism is run by a multitude of nucleus-encoded RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that control RNA stability, processing, and degradation. In chloroplasts and mitochondria, these post-transcriptional processes are vital for the production of a small number of essential components of the photosynthetic and respiratory machinery-and consequently for organellar biogenesis and plant survival. Many organellar RBPs have been functionally assigned to individual steps in RNA maturation, often specific to selected transcripts. While the catalog of factors identified is ever-growing, our knowledge of how they achieve their functions mechanistically is far from complete. This review summarizes the current knowledge of plant organellar RNA metabolism taking an RBP-centric approach and focusing on mechanistic aspects of RBP functions and the kinetics of the processes they are involved in.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ian Small
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia
| | - Joanna Melonek
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia
| | | | - Jörg Nickelsen
- Department of Molecular Plant Sciences, LMU Munich, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|
19
|
Speijer D. How mitochondria showcase evolutionary mechanisms and the importance of oxygen. Bioessays 2023; 45:e2300013. [PMID: 36965057 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202300013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/27/2023]
Abstract
Darwinian evolution can be simply stated: natural selection of inherited variations increasing differential reproduction. However, formulated thus, links with biochemistry, cell biology, ecology, and population dynamics remain unclear. To understand interactive contributions of chance and selection, higher levels of biological organization (e.g., endosymbiosis), complexities of competing selection forces, and emerging biological novelties (such as eukaryotes or meiotic sex), we must analyze actual examples. Focusing on mitochondria, I will illuminate how biology makes sense of life's evolution, and the concepts involved. First, looking at the bacterium - mitochondrion transition: merging with an archaeon, it lost its independence, but played a decisive role in eukaryogenesis, as an extremely efficient aerobic ATP generator and internal ROS source. Second, surveying later mitochondrion adaptations and diversifications illustrates concepts such as constructive neutral evolution, dynamic interactions between endosymbionts and hosts, the contingency of life histories, and metabolic reprogramming. Without oxygen, mitochondria disappear; with (intermittent) oxygen diversification occurs in highly complex ways, especially upon (temporary) phototrophic substrate supply. These expositions show the Darwinian model to be a highly fruitful paradigm.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dave Speijer
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Glazenburg MM, Laan L. Complexity and self-organization in the evolution of cell polarization. J Cell Sci 2023; 136:jcs259639. [PMID: 36691920 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.259639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Cellular life exhibits order and complexity, which typically increase over the course of evolution. Cell polarization is a well-studied example of an ordering process that breaks the internal symmetry of a cell by establishing a preferential axis. Like many cellular processes, polarization is driven by self-organization, meaning that the macroscopic pattern emerges as a consequence of microscopic molecular interactions at the biophysical level. However, the role of self-organization in the evolution of complex protein networks remains obscure. In this Review, we provide an overview of the evolution of polarization as a self-organizing process, focusing on the model species Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its fungal relatives. Moreover, we use this model system to discuss how self-organization might relate to evolutionary change, offering a shift in perspective on evolution at the microscopic scale.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marieke M Glazenburg
- Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Liedewij Laan
- Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Evolution of the connectivity and indispensability of a transferable gene: the simplicity hypothesis. BMC Ecol Evol 2022; 22:140. [PMID: 36451084 PMCID: PMC9710062 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-022-02091-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The number of interactions between a transferable gene or its protein product and genes or gene products native to its microbial host is referred to as connectivity. Such interactions impact the tendency of the gene to be retained by evolution following horizontal gene transfer (HGT) into a microbial population. The complexity hypothesis posits that the protein product of a transferable gene with lower connectivity is more likely to function in a way that is beneficial to a new microbial host compared to the protein product of a transferable gene with higher connectivity. A gene with lower connectivity is consequently more likely to be fixed in any microbial population it enters by HGT. The more recently proposed simplicity hypothesis posits that the connectivity of a transferable gene might increase over time within any single microbial population due to gene-host coevolution, but that differential rates of colonization of microbial populations by HGT in accordance with differences in connectivity might act to counter this and even reduce connectivity over time, comprising an evolutionary trade-off. RESULTS We present a theoretical model that can be used to predict the conditions under which gene-host coevolution might increase or decrease the connectivity of a transferable gene over time. We show that the opportunity to enter new microbial populations by HGT can cause the connectivity of a transferable gene to evolve toward lower values, particularly in an environment that is unstable with respect to the function of the gene's protein product. We also show that a lack of such opportunity in a stable environment can cause the connectivity of a transferable gene to evolve toward higher values. CONCLUSION Our theoretical model suggests that the connectivity of a transferable gene can change over time toward higher values corresponding to a more sessile state of lower transferability or lower values corresponding to a more itinerant state of higher transferability, depending on the ecological milieu in which the gene exists. We note, however, that a better understanding of gene-host coevolutionary dynamics in natural microbial systems is required before any further conclusions about the veracity of the simplicity hypothesis can be drawn.
Collapse
|
22
|
Pillai AS, Hochberg GK, Thornton JW. Simple mechanisms for the evolution of protein complexity. Protein Sci 2022; 31:e4449. [PMID: 36107026 PMCID: PMC9601886 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Proteins are tiny models of biological complexity: specific interactions among their many amino acids cause proteins to fold into elaborate structures, assemble with other proteins into higher-order complexes, and change their functions and structures upon binding other molecules. These complex features are classically thought to evolve via long and gradual trajectories driven by persistent natural selection. But a growing body of evidence from biochemistry, protein engineering, and molecular evolution shows that naturally occurring proteins often exist at or near the genetic edge of multimerization, allostery, and even new folds, so just one or a few mutations can trigger acquisition of these properties. These sudden transitions can occur because many of the physical properties that underlie these features are present in simpler proteins as fortuitous by-products of their architecture. Moreover, complex features of proteins can be encoded by huge arrays of sequences, so they are accessible from many different starting points via many possible paths. Because the bridges to these features are both short and numerous, random chance can join selection as a key factor in explaining the evolution of molecular complexity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arvind S. Pillai
- Department of Ecology and EvolutionUniversity of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
- Institute for Protein DesignUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Georg K.A. Hochberg
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial MicrobiologyMarburgGermany
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Synthetic MicrobiologyPhilipps University MarburgMarburgGermany
| | - Joseph W. Thornton
- Department of Ecology and EvolutionUniversity of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
- Departments of Human Genetics and Ecology and EvolutionUniversity of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Liu AK, Pereira JH, Kehl AJ, Rosenberg DJ, Orr DJ, Chu SKS, Banda DM, Hammel M, Adams PD, Siegel JB, Shih PM. Structural plasticity enables evolution and innovation of RuBisCO assemblies. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eadc9440. [PMID: 36026446 PMCID: PMC9417184 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adc9440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Oligomerization is a core structural feature that defines the form and function of many proteins. Most proteins form molecular complexes; however, there remains a dearth of diversity-driven structural studies investigating the evolutionary trajectory of these assemblies. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO) is one such enzyme that adopts multiple assemblies, although the origins and distribution of its different oligomeric states remain cryptic. Here, we retrace the evolution of ancestral and extant form II RuBisCOs, revealing a complex and diverse history of oligomerization. We structurally characterize a newly discovered tetrameric RuBisCO, elucidating how solvent-exposed surfaces can readily adopt new interactions to interconvert or give rise to new oligomeric states. We further use these principles to engineer and demonstrate how changes in oligomerization can be mediated by relatively few mutations. Our findings yield insight into how structural plasticity may give rise to new oligomeric states.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Albert K. Liu
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Jose H. Pereira
- Technology Division, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Alexander J. Kehl
- Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Daniel J. Rosenberg
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Graduate Group in Biophysics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Douglas J. Orr
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Simon K. S. Chu
- Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Douglas M. Banda
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Michal Hammel
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Paul D. Adams
- Technology Division, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Justin B. Siegel
- Genome Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Chemistry Department, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of California, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA 95616, USA
| | - Patrick M. Shih
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Feedstocks Division, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Badonyi M, Marsh JA. Large protein complex interfaces have evolved to promote cotranslational assembly. eLife 2022; 11:79602. [PMID: 35899946 PMCID: PMC9365393 DOI: 10.7554/elife.79602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Assembly pathways of protein complexes should be precise and efficient to minimise misfolding and unwanted interactions with other proteins in the cell. One way to achieve this efficiency is by seeding assembly pathways during translation via the cotranslational assembly of subunits. While recent evidence suggests that such cotranslational assembly is widespread, little is known about the properties of protein complexes associated with the phenomenon. Here, using a combination of proteome-specific protein complex structures and publicly available ribosome profiling data, we show that cotranslational assembly is particularly common between subunits that form large intermolecular interfaces. To test whether large interfaces have evolved to promote cotranslational assembly, as opposed to cotranslational assembly being a non-adaptive consequence of large interfaces, we compared the sizes of first and last translated interfaces of heteromeric subunits in bacterial, yeast, and human complexes. When considering all together, we observe the N-terminal interface to be larger than the C-terminal interface 54% of the time, increasing to 64% when we exclude subunits with only small interfaces, which are unlikely to cotranslationally assemble. This strongly suggests that large interfaces have evolved as a means to maximise the chance of successful cotranslational subunit binding.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mihaly Badonyi
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph A Marsh
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Boscaro V, Syberg-Olsen MJ, Irwin NAT, George EE, Vannini C, Husnik F, Keeling PJ. All essential endosymbionts of the ciliate Euplotes are cyclically replaced. Curr Biol 2022; 32:R826-R827. [PMID: 35839761 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Symbiotic systems vary in the degree to which the partners are bound to each other1. At one extreme, there are intracellular endosymbionts in mutually obligate relationships with their host, often interpreted as mutualistic. The symbiosis between the betaproteobacterium Polynucleobacter and the ciliate Euplotes (clade B) challenges this view2: although freshwater Euplotes species long ago became dependent on endosymbionts, the many extant Polynucleobacter lineages they harbour arose recently and in parallel from different free-living ancestors2. The host requires the endosymbionts for reproduction and survival3, but each newly established symbiont is ultimately driven to extinction in a cycle of establishment, degeneration, and replacement. Similar replacement events have been observed in sap-feeding insects4-6, a model for bacteria-eukaryote symbioses7, but usually only affect a small subset of the host populations. Most insects retain an ancient coevolving symbiont, suggesting that long-term mutualism and permanent integration remains the rule and symbiont turnovers are mere evolutionary side-stories. Here we show that this is not the case for Euplotes. We examined all known essential Euplotes symbionts and found that none are ancient or coevolving; rather, all are recently established and continuously replaced over relatively short evolutionary time spans, making the symbiosis ancient for the host but not for any bacterial lineage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vittorio Boscaro
- University of British Columbia, Department of Botany, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
| | | | - Nicholas A T Irwin
- University of British Columbia, Department of Botany, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada; University of Oxford, Merton College, Oxford, OX1 4JD, UK
| | - Emma E George
- University of British Columbia, Department of Botany, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Claudia Vannini
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, 56126, Italy
| | - Filip Husnik
- University of British Columbia, Department of Botany, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada; Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan
| | - Patrick J Keeling
- University of British Columbia, Department of Botany, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Torri A, Jaeger J, Pradeu T, Saleh MC. The origin of RNA interference: Adaptive or neutral evolution? PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001715. [PMID: 35767561 PMCID: PMC9275709 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The origin of RNA interference (RNAi) is usually explained by a defense-based hypothesis, in which RNAi evolved as a defense against transposable elements (TEs) and RNA viruses and was already present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). However, since RNA antisense regulation and double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are ancient and widespread phenomena, the origin of defensive RNAi should have occurred in parallel with its regulative functions to avoid imbalances in gene regulation. Thus, we propose a neutral evolutionary hypothesis for the origin of RNAi in which qualitative system drift from a prokaryotic antisense RNA gene regulation mechanism leads to the formation of RNAi through constructive neutral evolution (CNE). We argue that RNAi was already present in the ancestor of LECA before the need for a new defense system arose and that its presence helped to shape eukaryotic genomic architecture and stability. Where does RNA interference come from? This Essay describes a new step-by-step evolutionary model of how RNA interference might have originated in early eukaryotes through neutral events from the molecular machinery present in prokaryotes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Torri
- Virus & RNA interference Unit, Department of Virology, Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR 3569, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- * E-mail: (AT); (M-CS)
| | | | - Thomas Pradeu
- ImmunoConcEpT, CNRS UMR 5164, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- Institut d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques, CNRS UMR 8590, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Paris, France
| | - Maria-Carla Saleh
- Virus & RNA interference Unit, Department of Virology, Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR 3569, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- * E-mail: (AT); (M-CS)
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Palazzo AF, Kejiou NS. Non-Darwinian Molecular Biology. Front Genet 2022; 13:831068. [PMID: 35251134 PMCID: PMC8888898 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.831068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
With the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA, a shift occurred in how biologists investigated questions surrounding cellular processes, such as protein synthesis. Instead of viewing biological activity through the lens of chemical reactions, this new field used biological information to gain a new profound view of how biological systems work. Molecular biologists asked new types of questions that would have been inconceivable to the older generation of researchers, such as how cellular machineries convert inherited biological information into functional molecules like proteins. This new focus on biological information also gave molecular biologists a way to link their findings to concepts developed by genetics and the modern synthesis. However, by the late 1960s this all changed. Elevated rates of mutation, unsustainable genetic loads, and high levels of variation in populations, challenged Darwinian evolution, a central tenant of the modern synthesis, where adaptation was the main driver of evolutionary change. Building on these findings, Motoo Kimura advanced the neutral theory of molecular evolution, which advocates that selection in multicellular eukaryotes is weak and that most genomic changes are neutral and due to random drift. This was further elaborated by Jack King and Thomas Jukes, in their paper “Non-Darwinian Evolution”, where they pointed out that the observed changes seen in proteins and the types of polymorphisms observed in populations only become understandable when we take into account biochemistry and Kimura’s new theory. Fifty years later, most molecular biologists remain unaware of these fundamental advances. Their adaptionist viewpoint fails to explain data collected from new powerful technologies which can detect exceedingly rare biochemical events. For example, high throughput sequencing routinely detects RNA transcripts being produced from almost the entire genome yet are present less than one copy per thousand cells and appear to lack any function. Molecular biologists must now reincorporate ideas from classical biochemistry and absorb modern concepts from molecular evolution, to craft a new lens through which they can evaluate the functionality of transcriptional units, and make sense of our messy, intricate, and complicated genome.
Collapse
|
28
|
Oborník M. Organellar Evolution: A Path from Benefit to Dependence. Microorganisms 2022; 10:microorganisms10010122. [PMID: 35056571 PMCID: PMC8781833 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10010122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Revised: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Eukaryotic organelles supposedly evolved from their bacterial ancestors because of their benefits to host cells. However, organelles are quite often retained, even when the beneficial metabolic pathway is lost, due to something other than the original beneficial function. The organellar function essential for cell survival is, in the end, the result of organellar evolution, particularly losses of redundant metabolic pathways present in both the host and endosymbiont, followed by a gradual distribution of metabolic functions between the organelle and host. Such biological division of metabolic labor leads to mutual dependence of the endosymbiont and host. Changing environmental conditions, such as the gradual shift of an organism from aerobic to anaerobic conditions or light to dark, can make the original benefit useless. Therefore, it can be challenging to deduce the original beneficial function, if there is any, underlying organellar acquisition. However, it is also possible that the organelle is retained because it simply resists being eliminated or digested untill it becomes indispensable.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Miroslav Oborník
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic;
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Phan HD, Lai LB, Zahurancik WJ, Gopalan V. The many faces of RNA-based RNase P, an RNA-world relic. Trends Biochem Sci 2021; 46:976-991. [PMID: 34511335 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2021.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 07/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
RNase P is an essential enzyme that catalyzes removal of the 5' leader from precursor transfer RNAs. The ribonucleoprotein (RNP) form of RNase P is present in all domains of life and comprises a single catalytic RNA (ribozyme) and a variable number of protein cofactors. Recent cryo-electron microscopy structures of representative archaeal and eukaryotic (nuclear) RNase P holoenzymes bound to tRNA substrate/product provide high-resolution detail on subunit organization, topology, and substrate recognition in these large, multisubunit catalytic RNPs. These structures point to the challenges in understanding how proteins modulate the RNA functional repertoire and how the structure of an ancient RNA-based catalyst was reshaped during evolution by new macromolecular associations that were likely necessitated by functional/regulatory coupling.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hong-Duc Phan
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Ohio State Biochemistry Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Lien B Lai
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| | - Walter J Zahurancik
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Venkat Gopalan
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Ohio State Biochemistry Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Yang Y, Lindsey-Boltz LA, Vaughn CM, Selby CP, Cao X, Liu Z, Hsu DS, Sancar A. Circadian clock, carcinogenesis, chronochemotherapy connections. J Biol Chem 2021; 297:101068. [PMID: 34375638 PMCID: PMC8403766 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The circadian clock controls the expression of nearly 50% of protein coding genes in mice and most likely in humans as well. Therefore, disruption of the circadian clock is presumed to have serious pathological effects including cancer. However, epidemiological studies on individuals with circadian disruption because of night shift or rotating shift work have produced contradictory data not conducive to scientific consensus as to whether circadian disruption increases the incidence of breast, ovarian, prostate, or colorectal cancers. Similarly, genetically engineered mice with clock disruption do not exhibit spontaneous or radiation-induced cancers at higher incidence than wild-type controls. Because many cellular functions including the cell cycle and cell division are, at least in part, controlled by the molecular clock components (CLOCK, BMAL1, CRYs, PERs), it has also been expected that appropriate timing of chemotherapy may increase the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs and ameliorate their side effect. However, empirical attempts at chronochemotherapy have not produced beneficial outcomes. Using mice without and with human tumor xenografts, sites of DNA damage and repair following treatment with the anticancer drug cisplatin have been mapped genome-wide at single nucleotide resolution and as a function of circadian time. The data indicate that mechanism-based studies such as these may provide information necessary for devising rational chronochemotherapy regimens.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yanyan Yang
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Laura A Lindsey-Boltz
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Courtney M Vaughn
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Christopher P Selby
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Xuemei Cao
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Zhenxing Liu
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - David S Hsu
- Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
| | - Aziz Sancar
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
A single historical substitution drives an increase in acetylcholine receptor complexity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2018731118. [PMID: 33579823 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2018731118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Human adult muscle-type acetylcholine receptors are heteropentameric ion channels formed from four different, but evolutionarily related, subunits. These subunits assemble with a precise stoichiometry and arrangement such that two chemically distinct agonist-binding sites are formed between specific subunit pairs. How this subunit complexity evolved and became entrenched is unclear. Here we show that a single historical amino acid substitution is able to constrain the subunit stoichiometry of functional acetylcholine receptors. Using a combination of ancestral sequence reconstruction, single-channel electrophysiology, and concatenated subunits, we reveal that an ancestral β-subunit can not only replace the extant β-subunit but can also supplant the neighboring δ-subunit. By forward evolving the ancestral β-subunit with a single amino acid substitution, we restore the requirement for a δ-subunit for functional channels. These findings reveal that a single historical substitution necessitates an increase in acetylcholine receptor complexity and, more generally, that simple stepwise mutations can drive subunit entrenchment in this model heteromeric protein.
Collapse
|
32
|
Valach M, Gonzalez Alcazar JA, Sarrasin M, Lang BF, Gray MW, Burger G. An Unexpectedly Complex Mitoribosome in Andalucia godoyi, a Protist with the Most Bacteria-like Mitochondrial Genome. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 38:788-804. [PMID: 32886790 PMCID: PMC7947838 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The mitoribosome, as known from studies in model organisms, deviates considerably from its ancestor, the bacterial ribosome. Deviations include substantial reduction of the mitochondrial ribosomal RNA (mt-rRNA) structure and acquisition of numerous mitochondrion-specific (M) mitoribosomal proteins (mtRPs). A broadly accepted view assumes that M-mtRPs compensate for structural destabilization of mt-rRNA resulting from its evolutionary remodeling. Since most experimental information on mitoribosome makeup comes from eukaryotes having derived mitochondrial genomes and mt-rRNAs, we tested this assumption by investigating the mitochondrial translation machinery of jakobids, a lineage of unicellular protists with the most bacteria-like mitochondrial genomes. We report here proteomics analyses of the Andalucia godoyi small mitoribosomal subunit and in silico transcriptomic and comparative genome analyses of four additional jakobids. Jakobids have mt-rRNA structures that minimally differ from their bacterial counterparts. Yet, with at least 31 small subunit and 44 large subunit mtRPs, the mitoriboproteome of Andalucia is essentially as complex as that in animals or fungi. Furthermore, the relatively high conservation of jakobid sequences has helped to clarify the identity of several mtRPs, previously considered to be lineage-specific, as divergent homologs of conserved M-mtRPs, notably mS22 and mL61. The coexistence of bacteria-like mt-rRNAs and a complex mitoriboproteome refutes the view that M-mtRPs were ancestrally recruited to stabilize deviations of mt-rRNA structural elements. We postulate instead that the numerous M-mtRPs acquired in the last eukaryotic common ancestor allowed mt-rRNAs to pursue a broad range of evolutionary trajectories across lineages: from dramatic reduction to acquisition of novel elements to structural conservatism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matus Valach
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - José Angel Gonzalez Alcazar
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Matt Sarrasin
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - B Franz Lang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Michael W Gray
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Gertraud Burger
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Rusman F, Floridia-Yapur N, Tomasini N, Diosque P. Guide RNA Repertoires in the Main Lineages of Trypanosoma cruzi: High Diversity and Variable Redundancy Among Strains. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021; 11:663416. [PMID: 34136416 PMCID: PMC8202002 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.663416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Trypanosoma cruzi, as other kinetoplastids, has a complex mechanism of editing of mitochondrial mRNAs that requires guide RNAs (gRNAs) coded in DNA minicircles in the kinetoplast. There are many variations on this mechanism among species. mRNA editing and gRNA repertoires are almost unknown in T. cruzi. Here, gRNAs were inferred based on deep-sequenced minicircle hypervariable regions (mHVRs) and editing cascades were rebuilt in strains belonging to the six main T. cruzi lineages. Inferred gRNAs were clustered according to their sequence similarity to constitute gRNA classes. Extreme diversity of gRNA classes was observed, which implied highly divergent gRNA repertoires among different lineages, even within some lineages. In addition, a variable gRNA class redundancy (i.e., different gRNA classes editing the same mRNA region) was detected among strains. Some strains had upon four times more gRNA classes than others. Such variations in redundancy affected gRNA classes of all mRNAs in a concerted way, i.e., there are correlated variations in the number of gRNAs classes editing each mRNA. Interestingly, cascades were incomplete for components of the respiratory complex I in several strains. Finally, gRNA classes of different strains may potentially edit mitochondrial mRNAs from other lineages in the same way as they edit their own mitochondrial mRNAs, which is a prerequisite for biparental inheritance of minicircle in hybrids. We propose that genetic exchange and biparental inheritance of minicircles combined with minicircle drift due to (partial) random segregation of minicircles during kDNA replication is a suitable hypothesis to explain the divergences among strains and the high levels of gRNA redundancy in some strains. In addition, our results support that the complex I may not be required in some stages in the life cycle as previously shown and that linkage (in the same minicircle) of gRNAs that edit different mRNAs may prevent gRNA class lost in such stage.
Collapse
|
34
|
Mechanical Mechanisms of Chromosome Segregation. Cells 2021; 10:cells10020465. [PMID: 33671543 PMCID: PMC7926803 DOI: 10.3390/cells10020465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Revised: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Chromosome segregation—the partitioning of genetic material into two daughter cells—is one of the most crucial processes in cell division. In all Eukaryotes, chromosome segregation is driven by the spindle, a microtubule-based, self-organizing subcellular structure. Extensive research performed over the past 150 years has identified numerous commonalities and contrasts between spindles in different systems. In this review, we use simple coarse-grained models to organize and integrate previous studies of chromosome segregation. We discuss sites of force generation in spindles and fundamental mechanical principles that any understanding of chromosome segregation must be based upon. We argue that conserved sites of force generation may interact differently in different spindles, leading to distinct mechanical mechanisms of chromosome segregation. We suggest experiments to determine which mechanical mechanism is operative in a particular spindle under study. Finally, we propose that combining biophysical experiments, coarse-grained theories, and evolutionary genetics will be a productive approach to enhance our understanding of chromosome segregation in the future.
Collapse
|
35
|
Muñoz-Gómez SA, Bilolikar G, Wideman JG, Geiler-Samerotte K. Constructive Neutral Evolution 20 Years Later. J Mol Evol 2021; 89:172-182. [PMID: 33604782 PMCID: PMC7982386 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-021-09996-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Evolution has led to a great diversity that ranges from elegant simplicity to ornate complexity. Many complex features are often assumed to be more functional or adaptive than their simpler alternatives. However, in 1999, Arlin Stolzfus published a paper in the Journal of Molecular Evolution that outlined a framework in which complexity can arise through a series of non-adaptive steps. He called this framework Constructive Neutral Evolution (CNE). Despite its two-decade-old roots, many evolutionary biologists still appear to be unaware of this explanatory framework for the origins of complexity. In this perspective piece, we explain the theory of CNE and how it changes the order of events in narratives that describe the evolution of complexity. We also provide an extensive list of cellular features that may have become more complex through CNE. We end by discussing strategies to determine whether complexity arose through neutral or adaptive processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sergio A Muñoz-Gómez
- School of Life Sciences, Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
| | - Gaurav Bilolikar
- School of Life Sciences, Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jeremy G Wideman
- School of Life Sciences, Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Kerry Geiler-Samerotte
- School of Life Sciences, Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Zubaer A, Wai A, Patel N, Perillo J, Hausner G. The Mitogenomes of Ophiostoma minus and Ophiostoma piliferum and Comparisons With Other Members of the Ophiostomatales. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:618649. [PMID: 33643245 PMCID: PMC7902536 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.618649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungi assigned to the Ophiostomatales are of economic concern as many are blue-stain fungi and some are plant pathogens. The mitogenomes of two blue-stain fungi, Ophiostoma minus and Ophiostoma piliferum, were sequenced and compared with currently available mitogenomes for other members of the Ophiostomatales. Species representing various genera within the Ophiostomatales have been examined for gene content, gene order, phylogenetic relationships, and the distribution of mobile elements. Gene synteny is conserved among the Ophiostomatales but some members were missing the atp9 gene. A genome wide intron landscape has been prepared to demonstrate the distribution of the mobile genetic elements (group I and II introns and homing endonucleases) and to provide insight into the evolutionary dynamics of introns among members of this group of fungi. Examples of complex introns or nested introns composed of two or three intron modules have been observed in some species. The size variation among the mitogenomes (from 23.7 kb to about 150 kb) is mostly due to the presence and absence of introns. Members of the genus Sporothrix sensu stricto appear to have the smallest mitogenomes due to loss of introns. The taxonomy of the Ophiostomatales has recently undergone considerable revisions; however, some lineages remain unresolved. The data showed that genera such as Raffaelea appear to be polyphyletic and the separation of Sporothrix sensu stricto from Ophiostoma is justified.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abdullah Zubaer
- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Alvan Wai
- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Nikita Patel
- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Jordan Perillo
- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Georg Hausner
- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Hochberg GKA, Liu Y, Marklund EG, Metzger BPH, Laganowsky A, Thornton JW. A hydrophobic ratchet entrenches molecular complexes. Nature 2020; 588:503-508. [PMID: 33299178 PMCID: PMC8168016 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-3021-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2019] [Accepted: 10/20/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Most proteins assemble into multisubunit complexes1. The persistence of these complexes across evolutionary time is usually explained as the result of natural selection for functional properties that depend on multimerization, such as intersubunit allostery or the capacity to do mechanical work2. In many complexes, however, multimerization does not enable any known function3. An alternative explanation is that multimers could become entrenched if substitutions accumulate that are neutral in multimers but deleterious in monomers; purifying selection would then prevent reversion to the unassembled form, even if assembly per se does not enhance biological function3-7. Here we show that a hydrophobic mutational ratchet systematically entrenches molecular complexes. By applying ancestral protein reconstruction and biochemical assays to the evolution of steroid hormone receptors, we show that an ancient hydrophobic interface, conserved for hundreds of millions of years, is entrenched because exposure of this interface to solvent reduces protein stability and causes aggregation, even though the interface makes no detectable contribution to function. Using structural bioinformatics, we show that a universal mutational propensity drives sites that are buried in multimeric interfaces to accumulate hydrophobic substitutions to levels that are not tolerated in monomers. In a database of hundreds of families of multimers, most show signatures of long-term hydrophobic entrenchment. It is therefore likely that many protein complexes persist because a simple ratchet-like mechanism entrenches them across evolutionary time, even when they are functionally gratuitous.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Georg K A Hochberg
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Yang Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Erik G Marklund
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Brian P H Metzger
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Arthur Laganowsky
- Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Joseph W Thornton
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Lukeš J, Kaur B, Speijer D. RNA Editing in Mitochondria and Plastids: Weird and Widespread. Trends Genet 2020; 37:99-102. [PMID: 33203574 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2020.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Though widespread, RNA editing is rare, except in endosymbiotic organelles. A combination of higher mutation rates, relaxation of energetic constraints, and high genetic drift is found within plastids and mitochondria and is conducive for evolution and expansion of editing processes, possibly starting as repair mechanisms. To illustrate this, we present an exhaustive phylogenetic overview of editing types.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julius Lukeš
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic; Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic.
| | - Binnypreet Kaur
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Dave Speijer
- Medical Biochemistry, University of Amsterdam, AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Bapteste E, Papale F. Modeling the evolution of interconnected processes: It is the song and the singers: Tracking units of selection with interaction networks. Bioessays 2020; 43:e2000077. [PMID: 33165956 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202000077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Revised: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Recently, Doolittle and Inkpen formulated a thought provoking theory, asserting that evolution by natural selection was responsible for the sideways evolution of two radically different kinds of selective units (also called Domains). The former entities, termed singers, correspond to the usual objects studied by evolutionary biologists (gene, genomes, individuals, species, etc.), whereas the later, termed songs, correspond to re-produced biological and ecosystemic functions, processes, information, and memes. Singers perform songs through selected patterns of interactions, meaning that a wealth of critical phenomena might receive novel evolutionary explanations. However, this theory did not provide an empirical approach to study evolution in such a broadened context. Here, we show that analyzing songs and singers, using patterns of interaction networks as a common ontology for both, offers a novel, actionable, inclusive and mathematical way to analyze not only the re-production but also the evolution and fitness of biological and ecosystemic interconnected processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eric Bapteste
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 7, quai Saint Bernard, Bâtiment A 4ème étage, pièce 427, Paris, 75005, France
| | - François Papale
- Departement of Philosophy, University of Montreal, 2910 Édouard-Montpetit blvd, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Palazzo AF, Koonin EV. Functional Long Non-coding RNAs Evolve from Junk Transcripts. Cell 2020; 183:1151-1161. [PMID: 33068526 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 129] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 08/20/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Transcriptome studies reveal pervasive transcription of complex genomes, such as those of mammals. Despite popular arguments for functionality of most, if not all, of these transcripts, genome-wide analysis of selective constraints indicates that most of the produced RNA are junk. However, junk is not garbage. On the contrary, junk transcripts provide the raw material for the evolution of diverse long non-coding (lnc) RNAs by non-adaptive mechanisms, such as constructive neutral evolution. The generation of many novel functional entities, such as lncRNAs, that fuels organismal complexity does not seem to be driven by strong positive selection. Rather, the weak selection regime that dominates the evolution of most multicellular eukaryotes provides ample material for functional innovation with relatively little adaptation involved.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander F Palazzo
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada.
| | - Eugene V Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Muñoz-Gómez SA, Snyder SN, Montoya SJ, Wideman JG. Independent accretion of TIM22 complex subunits in the animal and fungal lineages. F1000Res 2020; 9:1060. [PMID: 33014348 PMCID: PMC7523481 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.25904.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: The mitochondrial protein import complexes arose early in eukaryogenesis. Most of the components of the protein import pathways predate the last eukaryotic common ancestor. For example, the carrier-insertase TIM22 complex comprises the widely conserved Tim22 channel core. However, the auxiliary components of fungal and animal TIM22 complexes are exceptions to this ancient conservation. Methods: Using comparative genomics and phylogenetic approaches, we identified precisely when each TIM22 accretion occurred. Results: In animals, we demonstrate that Tim29 and Tim10b arose early in the holozoan lineage. Tim29 predates the metazoan lineage being present in the animal sister lineages, choanoflagellate and filastereans, whereas the erroneously named Tim10b arose from a duplication of Tim9 at the base of metazoans. In fungi, we show that Tim54 has representatives present in every holomycotan lineage including microsporidians and fonticulids, whereas Tim18 and Tim12 appeared much later in fungal evolution. Specifically, Tim18 and Tim12 arose from duplications of Sdh3 and Tim10, respectively, early in the Saccharomycotina. Surprisingly, we show that Tim54 is distantly related to AGK suggesting that AGK and Tim54 are extremely divergent orthologues and the origin of AGK/Tim54 interaction with Tim22 predates the divergence of animals and fungi. Conclusions: We argue that the evolutionary history of the TIM22 complex is best understood as the neutral structural divergence of an otherwise strongly functionally conserved protein complex. This view suggests that many of the differences in structure/subunit composition of multi-protein complexes are non-adaptive. Instead, most of the phylogenetic variation of functionally conserved molecular machines, which have been under stable selective pressures for vast phylogenetic spans, such as the TIM22 complex, is most likely the outcome of the interplay of random genetic drift and mutation pressure.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sergio A. Muñoz-Gómez
- Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA
| | - Shannon N. Snyder
- Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA
| | - Samantha J. Montoya
- Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA
| | - Jeremy G. Wideman
- Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
|
43
|
Tobiasson V, Amunts A. Ciliate mitoribosome illuminates evolutionary steps of mitochondrial translation. eLife 2020; 9:59264. [PMID: 32553108 PMCID: PMC7326499 DOI: 10.7554/elife.59264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand the steps involved in the evolution of translation, we used Tetrahymena thermophila, a ciliate with high coding capacity of the mitochondrial genome, as the model organism and characterized its mitochondrial ribosome (mitoribosome) using cryo-EM. The structure of the mitoribosome reveals an assembly of 94-ribosomal proteins and four-rRNAs with an additional protein mass of ~700 kDa on the small subunit, while the large subunit lacks 5S rRNA. The structure also shows that the small subunit head is constrained, tRNA binding sites are formed by mitochondria-specific protein elements, conserved protein bS1 is excluded, and bacterial RNA polymerase binding site is blocked. We provide evidence for anintrinsic protein targeting system through visualization of mitochondria-specific mL105 by the exit tunnel that would facilitate the recruitment of a nascent polypeptide. Functional protein uS3m is encoded by three complementary genes from the nucleus and mitochondrion, establishing a link between genetic drift and mitochondrial translation. Finally, we reannotated nine open reading frames in the mitochondrial genome that code for mitoribosomal proteins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Victor Tobiasson
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Solna, Sweden.,Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Alexey Amunts
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Solna, Sweden.,Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Pillai AS, Chandler SA, Liu Y, Signore AV, Cortez-Romero CR, Benesch JLP, Laganowsky A, Storz JF, Hochberg GKA, Thornton JW. Origin of complexity in haemoglobin evolution. Nature 2020; 581:480-485. [PMID: 32461643 PMCID: PMC8259614 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2292-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Most proteins associate into multimeric complexes with specific architectures1,2, which often have functional properties such as cooperative ligand binding or allosteric regulation3. No detailed knowledge is available about how any multimer and its functions arose during evolution. Here we use ancestral protein reconstruction and biophysical assays to elucidate the origins of vertebrate haemoglobin, a heterotetramer of paralogous α- and β-subunits that mediates respiratory oxygen transport and exchange by cooperatively binding oxygen with moderate affinity. We show that modern haemoglobin evolved from an ancient monomer and characterize the historical 'missing link' through which the modern tetramer evolved-a noncooperative homodimer with high oxygen affinity that existed before the gene duplication that generated distinct α- and β-subunits. Reintroducing just two post-duplication historical substitutions into the ancestral protein is sufficient to cause strong tetramerization by creating favourable contacts with more ancient residues on the opposing subunit. These surface substitutions markedly reduce oxygen affinity and even confer cooperativity, because an ancient linkage between the oxygen binding site and the multimerization interface was already an intrinsic feature of the protein's structure. Our findings establish that evolution can produce new complex molecular structures and functions via simple genetic mechanisms that recruit existing biophysical features into higher-level architectures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arvind S Pillai
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Shane A Chandler
- Department of Chemistry, Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Yang Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Anthony V Signore
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | | | - Justin L P Benesch
- Department of Chemistry, Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Arthur Laganowsky
- Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Jay F Storz
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Georg K A Hochberg
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Joseph W Thornton
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Britton CS, Sorrells TR, Johnson AD. Protein-coding changes preceded cis-regulatory gains in a newly evolved transcription circuit. Science 2020; 367:96-100. [PMID: 31896718 DOI: 10.1126/science.aax5217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 11/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Changes in both the coding sequence of transcriptional regulators and in the cis-regulatory sequences recognized by these regulators have been implicated in the evolution of transcriptional circuits. However, little is known about how they evolved in concert. We describe an evolutionary pathway in fungi where a new transcriptional circuit (a-specific gene repression by the homeodomain protein Matα2) evolved by coding changes in this ancient regulator, followed millions of years later by cis-regulatory sequence changes in the genes of its future regulon. By analyzing a group of species that has acquired the coding changes but not the cis-regulatory sites, we show that the coding changes became necessary for the regulator's deeply conserved function, thereby poising the regulator to jump-start formation of the new circuit.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Candace S Britton
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.,Tetrad Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Trevor R Sorrells
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.,Tetrad Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Alexander D Johnson
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
Aphasizheva I, Alfonzo J, Carnes J, Cestari I, Cruz-Reyes J, Göringer HU, Hajduk S, Lukeš J, Madison-Antenucci S, Maslov DA, McDermott SM, Ochsenreiter T, Read LK, Salavati R, Schnaufer A, Schneider A, Simpson L, Stuart K, Yurchenko V, Zhou ZH, Zíková A, Zhang L, Zimmer S, Aphasizhev R. Lexis and Grammar of Mitochondrial RNA Processing in Trypanosomes. Trends Parasitol 2020; 36:337-355. [PMID: 32191849 PMCID: PMC7083771 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2019] [Revised: 01/19/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Trypanosoma brucei spp. cause African human and animal trypanosomiasis, a burden on health and economy in Africa. These hemoflagellates are distinguished by a kinetoplast nucleoid containing mitochondrial DNAs of two kinds: maxicircles encoding ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and proteins and minicircles bearing guide RNAs (gRNAs) for mRNA editing. All RNAs are produced by a phage-type RNA polymerase as 3' extended precursors, which undergo exonucleolytic trimming. Most pre-mRNAs proceed through 3' adenylation, uridine insertion/deletion editing, and 3' A/U-tailing. The rRNAs and gRNAs are 3' uridylated. Historically, RNA editing has attracted major research effort, and recently essential pre- and postediting processing events have been discovered. Here, we classify the key players that transform primary transcripts into mature molecules and regulate their function and turnover.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Inna Aphasizheva
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Boston University Medical Campus, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
| | - Juan Alfonzo
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Jason Carnes
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Igor Cestari
- Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, H9X3V9, Québec, Canada
| | - Jorge Cruz-Reyes
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | - H Ulrich Göringer
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Darmstadt University of Technology, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Stephen Hajduk
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Julius Lukeš
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Susan Madison-Antenucci
- Parasitology Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12201, USA
| | - Dmitri A Maslov
- Department of Molecular, Cell, and Systems Biology, University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Suzanne M McDermott
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Torsten Ochsenreiter
- Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 4, Bern CH-3012, Switzerland
| | - Laurie K Read
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University at Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
| | - Reza Salavati
- Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, H9X3V9, Québec, Canada
| | - Achim Schnaufer
- Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
| | - André Schneider
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Bern CH-3012, Switzerland
| | - Larry Simpson
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA90095, USA
| | - Kenneth Stuart
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Vyacheslav Yurchenko
- Life Science Research Centre, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic; Martsinovsky Institute of Medical Parasitology, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Z Hong Zhou
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA90095, USA
| | - Alena Zíková
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Liye Zhang
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China
| | - Sara Zimmer
- University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth campus, Duluth, MN 55812, USA
| | - Ruslan Aphasizhev
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Boston University Medical Campus, Boston, MA 02118, USA
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Brzović Z, Šustar P. Postgenomics function monism. STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES 2020; 80:101243. [PMID: 31924514 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2019.101243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2019] [Revised: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 12/27/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The ENCODE project has made important new estimates of human genome functionality, now revising the percentage considered functional to more than 80%, which is in stark contrast to the received view, which estimated that less than 10% of the conserved parts of the human genome are functional. ENCODE's unorthodox use of the notion of biological function has stirred the so-called ENCODE controversy, involving conflicting views about the correct notion of function in postgenomics. The debate hinges on the traditional philosophical contrast between the causal role (CR) and selected effects (SE) approaches. In this paper, we examine the ENCODE controversy in terms of the distinction between function monism and pluralism. We propose to apply a weak etiological account to genomic function ascriptions. In this approach, we can ascribe a function to a genomic structure of an organism if and only if performing the function persists in causally contributing to the organism's and its ancestors' fitness. In comparison to the strong etiological (i.e., the selected effects) approach, the present account does not require there to be selection for the structure in question. This is a monistic approach that enables us to avoid the main difficulties of CR, as well as SE's overdependence on natural selection, while still preserving an evolutionary-constrained notion of biological functions. Our proposal is much more moderate in accommodating the estimates of the functionality of the human genome than both ENCODE's proposal itself and the views of the critics relying on a version of the SE account of functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zdenka Brzović
- Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Sveučilišna avenija 4, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia.
| | - Predrag Šustar
- Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Sveučilišna avenija 4, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia.
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Kaur B, Záhonová K, Valach M, Faktorová D, Prokopchuk G, Burger G, Lukeš J. Gene fragmentation and RNA editing without borders: eccentric mitochondrial genomes of diplonemids. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48:2694-2708. [PMID: 31919519 PMCID: PMC7049700 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz1215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 12/14/2019] [Accepted: 01/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Diplonemids are highly abundant heterotrophic marine protists. Previous studies showed that their strikingly bloated mitochondrial genome is unique because of systematic gene fragmentation and manifold RNA editing. Here we report a comparative study of mitochondrial genome architecture, gene structure and RNA editing of six recently isolated, phylogenetically diverse diplonemid species. Mitochondrial gene fragmentation and modes of RNA editing, which include cytidine-to-uridine (C-to-U) and adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) substitutions and 3' uridine additions (U-appendage), are conserved across diplonemids. Yet as we show here, all these features have been pushed to their extremes in the Hemistasiidae lineage. For example, Namystynia karyoxenos has its genes fragmented into more than twice as many modules than other diplonemids, with modules as short as four nucleotides. Furthermore, we detected in this group multiple A-appendage and guanosine-to-adenosine (G-to-A) substitution editing events not observed before in diplonemids and found very rarely elsewhere. With >1,000 sites, C-to-U and A-to-I editing in Namystynia is nearly 10 times more frequent than in other diplonemids. The editing density of 12% in coding regions makes Namystynia's the most extensively edited transcriptome described so far. Diplonemid mitochondrial genome architecture, gene structure and post-transcriptional processes display such high complexity that they challenge all other currently known systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Binnypreet Kaur
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
- Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Kristína Záhonová
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, Charles University, BIOCEV, 25250 Vestec, Czech Republic
| | - Matus Valach
- Department of Biochemistry and Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, H3T 1J4 Montreal, Canada
| | - Drahomíra Faktorová
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
- Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Galina Prokopchuk
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| | - Gertraud Burger
- Department of Biochemistry and Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics, Université de Montréal, H3T 1J4 Montreal, Canada
| | - Julius Lukeš
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
- Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, 37005 České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Tomáška Ľ, Nosek J. Co-evolution in the Jungle: From Leafcutter Ant Colonies to Chromosomal Ends. J Mol Evol 2020; 88:293-318. [PMID: 32157325 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-020-09935-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 02/25/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Biological entities are multicomponent systems where each part is directly or indirectly dependent on the others. In effect, a change in a single component might have a consequence on the functioning of its partners, thus affecting the fitness of the entire system. In this article, we provide a few examples of such complex biological systems, ranging from ant colonies to a population of amino acids within a single-polypeptide chain. Based on these examples, we discuss one of the central and still challenging questions in biology: how do such multicomponent consortia co-evolve? More specifically, we ask how telomeres, nucleo-protein complexes protecting the integrity of linear DNA chromosomes, originated from the ancestral organisms having circular genomes and thus not dealing with end-replication and end-protection problems. Using the examples of rapidly evolving topologies of mitochondrial genomes in eukaryotic microorganisms, we show what means of co-evolution were employed to accommodate various types of telomere-maintenance mechanisms in mitochondria. We also describe an unprecedented runaway evolution of telomeric repeats in nuclei of ascomycetous yeasts accompanied by co-evolution of telomere-associated proteins. We propose several scenarios derived from research on telomeres and supported by other studies from various fields of biology, while emphasizing that the relevant answers are still not in sight. It is this uncertainty and a lack of a detailed roadmap that makes the journey through the jungle of biological systems still exciting and worth undertaking.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ľubomír Tomáška
- Department of Genetics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia.
| | - Jozef Nosek
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Beeby M, Ferreira JL, Tripp P, Albers SV, Mitchell DR. Propulsive nanomachines: the convergent evolution of archaella, flagella and cilia. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2020; 44:253-304. [DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuaa006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Echoing the repeated convergent evolution of flight and vision in large eukaryotes, propulsive swimming motility has evolved independently in microbes in each of the three domains of life. Filamentous appendages – archaella in Archaea, flagella in Bacteria and cilia in Eukaryotes – wave, whip or rotate to propel microbes, overcoming diffusion and enabling colonization of new environments. The implementations of the three propulsive nanomachines are distinct, however: archaella and flagella rotate, while cilia beat or wave; flagella and cilia assemble at their tips, while archaella assemble at their base; archaella and cilia use ATP for motility, while flagella use ion-motive force. These underlying differences reflect the tinkering required to evolve a molecular machine, in which pre-existing machines in the appropriate contexts were iteratively co-opted for new functions and whose origins are reflected in their resultant mechanisms. Contemporary homologies suggest that archaella evolved from a non-rotary pilus, flagella from a non-rotary appendage or secretion system, and cilia from a passive sensory structure. Here, we review the structure, assembly, mechanism and homologies of the three distinct solutions as a foundation to better understand how propulsive nanomachines evolved three times independently and to highlight principles of molecular evolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Morgan Beeby
- Department of Life Sciences, Frankland Road, Imperial College of London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Josie L Ferreira
- Department of Life Sciences, Frankland Road, Imperial College of London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Patrick Tripp
- Molecular Biology of Archaea, Institute of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schaenzlestrasse 1, 79211 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Sonja-Verena Albers
- Molecular Biology of Archaea, Institute of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schaenzlestrasse 1, 79211 Freiburg, Germany
| | - David R Mitchell
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 E. Adams St., Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
| |
Collapse
|