Comparative study of human mitochondrial proteome reveals extensive protein subcellular relocalization after gene duplications

Protein subcellular relocalization and function of duplicated flagellar calcium binding protein genes in honey bee trypanosomatid parasite

The honey bee trypanosomatid parasite, Lotmaria passim, contains two genes that encode the flagellar calcium binding protein (FCaBP) through tandem duplication in its genome. FCaBPs localize in the flagellum and entire body membrane of L. passim through specific N-terminal sorting sequences. This finding suggests that this is an example of protein subcellular relocalization resulting from gene duplication, altering the intracellular localization of FCaBP. However, this phenomenon may not have occurred in Leishmania, as one or both of the duplicated genes have become pseudogenes. Multiple copies of the FCaBP gene are present in several Trypanosoma species and Leptomonas pyrrhocoris, indicating rapid evolution of this gene in trypanosomatid parasites. The N-terminal flagellar sorting sequence of L. passim FCaBP1 is in close proximity to the BBSome complex, while that of Trypanosoma brucei FCaBP does not direct GFP to the flagellum in L. passim. Deletion of the two FCaBP genes in L. passim affected growth and impaired flagellar morphogenesis and motility, but it did not impact host infection. Therefore, FCaBP represents a duplicated gene with a rapid evolutionary history that is essential for flagellar structure and function in a trypanosomatid parasite.

Evolution of TOP1 and TOP1MT Topoisomerases in Chordata

Type IB topoisomerases relax the torsional stress associated with DNA metabolism in the nucleus and mitochondria and constitute important molecular targets of anticancer drugs. Vertebrates stand out among eukaryotes by having two Type IB topoisomerases acting specifically in the nucleus (TOP1) and mitochondria (TOP1MT). Despite their major importance, the origin and evolution of these paralogues remain unknown. Here, we examine the molecular evolutionary processes acting on both TOP1 and TOP1MT in Chordata, taking advantage of the increasing number of available genome sequences. We found that both TOP1 and TOP1MT evolved under strong purifying selection, as expected considering their essential biological functions. Critical active sites, including those associated with resistance to anticancer agents, were found particularly conserved. However, TOP1MT presented a higher rate of molecular evolution than TOP1, possibly related with its specialized activity on the mitochondrial genome and a less critical role in cells. We could place the duplication event that originated the TOP1 and TOP1MT paralogues early in the radiation of vertebrates, most likely associated with the first round of vertebrate tetraploidization (1R). Moreover, our data suggest that cyclostomes present a specialized mitochondrial Type IB topoisomerase. Interestingly, we identified two missense mutations replacing amino acids in the Linker region of TOP1MT in Neanderthals, which appears as a rare event when comparing the genome of both species. In conclusion, TOP1 and TOP1MT differ in their rates of evolution, and their evolutionary histories allowed us to better understand the evolution of chordates.

Gene Duplication Accelerates the Pace of Protein Gain and Loss from Plant Organelles

Organelle biogenesis and function is dependent on the concerted action of both organellar-encoded (if present) and nuclear-encoded proteins. Differences between homologous organelles across the Plant Kingdom arise, in part, as a result of differences in the cohort of nuclear-encoded proteins that are targeted to them. However, neither the rate at which differences in protein targeting accumulate nor the evolutionary consequences of these changes are known. Using phylogenomic approaches coupled to ancestral state estimation, we show that the plant organellar proteome has diversified in proportion with molecular sequence evolution such that the proteomes of plant chloroplasts and mitochondria lose or gain on average 3.6 proteins per million years. We further demonstrate that changes in organellar protein targeting are associated with an increase in the rate of molecular sequence evolution and that such changes predominantly occur in genes with regulatory rather than metabolic functions. Finally, we show that gain and loss of protein target signals occurs at a higher rate following gene duplication, revealing that gene and genome duplication are a key facilitator of plant organelle evolution.

Cytochrome c oxidase deficiency

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) deficiency is characterized by a high degree of genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity, partly reflecting the extreme structural complexity, multiple post-translational modification, variable, tissue-specific composition, and the high number of and intricate connections among the assembly factors of this enzyme. In fact, decreased COX specific activity can manifest with different degrees of severity, affect the whole organism or specific tissues, and develop a wide spectrum of disease natural history, including disease onsets ranging from birth to late adulthood. More than 30 genes have been linked to COX deficiency, but the list is still incomplete and in fact constantly updated. We here discuss the current knowledge about COX in health and disease, focusing on genetic aetiology and link to clinical manifestations. In addition, information concerning either fundamental biological features of the enzymes or biochemical signatures of its defects have been provided by experimental in vivo models, including yeast, fly, mouse and fish, which expanded our knowledge on the functional features and the phenotypical consequences of different forms of COX deficiency.

Recurrent sequence evolution after independent gene duplication

Background

Convergent and parallel evolution provide unique insights into the mechanisms of natural selection. Some of the most striking convergent and parallel (collectively recurrent) amino acid substitutions in proteins are adaptive, but there are also many that are selectively neutral. Accordingly, genome-wide assessment has shown that recurrent sequence evolution in orthologs is chiefly explained by nearly neutral evolution. For paralogs, more frequent functional change is expected because additional copies are generally not retained if they do not acquire their own niche. Yet, it is unknown to what extent recurrent sequence differentiation is discernible after independent gene duplications in different eukaryotic taxa.

Results

We develop a framework that detects patterns of recurrent sequence evolution in duplicated genes. This is used to analyze the genomes of 90 diverse eukaryotes. We find a remarkable number of families with a potentially predictable functional differentiation following gene duplication. In some protein families, more than ten independent duplications show a similar sequence-level differentiation between paralogs. Based on further analysis, the sequence divergence is found to be generally asymmetric. Moreover, about 6% of the recurrent sequence evolution between paralog pairs can be attributed to recurrent differentiation of subcellular localization. Finally, we reveal the specific recurrent patterns for the gene families Hint1/Hint2, Sco1/Sco2 and vma11/vma3.

Conclusions

The presented methodology provides a means to study the biochemical underpinning of functional differentiation between paralogs. For instance, two abundantly repeated substitutions are identified between independently derived Sco1 and Sco2 paralogs. Such identified substitutions allow direct experimental testing of the biological role of these residues for the repeated functional differentiation. We also uncover a diverse set of families with recurrent sequence evolution and reveal trends in the functional and evolutionary trajectories of this hitherto understudied phenomenon.

TRF4, the novel TBP-related protein of Drosophila melanogaster, is concentrated at the endoplasmic reticulum and copurifies with proteins participating in the processes associated with endoplasmic reticulum

Understanding the functions of TBP-related factors is essential for studying chromatin assembly and transcription regulation in higher eukaryotes. The novel TBP-related protein-coding gene, trf4, was described in Drosophila melanogaster. trf4 is found only in Drosophila and has likely originated in Drosophila common ancestor. TRF4 protein has a distant homology with TBP and TRF2 in the region of TBP-like domain and is evolutionarily conserved among distinct Drosophila species, which indicates its functional significance. TRF4 is widely expressed in D. melanogaster with high levels of its expression being observed in testes. Interestingly enough, TRF4 has become a cytoplasmic protein having lost nuclear localization signal sequence. TRF4 is concentrated at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and copurifies with the proteins participating in the ER-associated processes. We suggest that trf4 gene is an example of homolog neofunctionalization by protein subcellular relocalization pathway, where the subcellular relocalization of gene product of duplicated gene leads to the new functions in ER-associated processes.

Mitochondrial Sco proteins are involved in oxidative stress defense

Members of the evolutionary conserved Sco protein family have been intensively studied regarding their role in the assembly of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase. However, experimental and structural data, specifically the presence of a thioredoxin-like fold, suggest that Sco proteins may also play a role in redox homeostasis.

In our study, we addressed this putative function of Sco proteins using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system. Like many eukaryotes, this yeast possesses two SCO homologs (SCO1 and SCO2). Mutants bearing a deletion of either of the two genes are not affected in their growth under oxidative stress. However, the concomitant deletion of the SOD1 gene encoding the superoxide dismutase 1 resulted in a distinct phenotype: double deletion strains lacking SCO1 or SCO2 and SOD1 are highly sensitive to oxidative stress and show dramatically increased ROS levels.

The respiratory competent double deletion strain Δsco2Δsod1 paved the way to investigate the putative antioxidant function of SCO homologs apart from their role in respiration by complementation analysis. Sco homologs from Drosophila, Arabidopsis, human and two other yeast species were integrated into the genome of the double deletion mutant and the transformants were analyzed for their growth under oxidative stress. Interestingly, all homologs except for Kluyveromyces lactis K07152 and Arabidopsis thaliana HCC1 were able to complement the phenotype, indicating their role in oxidative stress defense. We further applied this complementation-based system to investigate whether pathogenic point mutations affect the putative antioxidant role of hSco2. Surprisingly, all of the mutant alleles failed to restore the ROS-sensitivity of the Δsco2Δsod1 strain.

In conclusion, our data not only provide clear evidence for the function of Sco proteins in oxidative stress defense but also offer a valuable tool to investigate this role for other homologous proteins.

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Concomitant deletion of SCO and SOD1 leads to a high ROS sensitivity.

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SCO homologs from higher organisms can rescue the oxidative stress sensitive phenotype of the double deletion mutant.

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Pathogenic human Sco2 mutations affect the antioxidant function of the protein.

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The role of the Sco proteins in oxidative stress defense is discussed.

Evolution of CYCLOIDEA-like genes in Fabales: Insights into duplication patterns and the control of floral symmetry

Cycloidea-like (CYC-like) genes are the key regulatory factors in the development of flower symmetry. Duplication and/or reduction of CYC-like genes have occurred several times in various angiosperm groups and are hypothesized to be correlated with the evolution of flower symmetry, which in turn has contributed to the evolutionary success of these groups. However, less is known about the evolutionary scenario of CYC-like genes in the whole Fabales, which contains four families with either symmetric or actinomorphic flowers. Here we investigated the evolution of CYC-like genes in all the four families of Fabales and recovered one to nine CYC-like genes (CYC1, CYC2, and CYC3) depending on which lineages, but the CYC3 genes were most likely lost in the ancestor of Leguminosae. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the CYC-like genes could have undergone multiple duplications and losses in different plant lineages and formed distinct paralogous/orthologous clades. The ancestor of the Papilionoideae and Caesalpinioideae may possess two paralogs of CYC1 genes but one of them was subsequently lost in Papilionoideae and was retained only in several species of Caesalpinioideae. CYC2 genes were more frequently duplicated in Papilionoideae than in other legumes. We propose that the diversification patterns of both CYC1 and CYC2 genes are not related to the floral symmetry in non-papilionoid Fabales groups, however, gene duplication and functional divergence of CYC2 are essential for the floral zygomorphy of Papilionoideae. This is the first systematic analysis of the CYC-like genes in Fabales and could form the basis for further study of molecular mechanisms controlling floral symmetry in non-model plants of Fabales.

Decoding the Divergent Subcellular Location of Two Highly Similar Paralogous LEA Proteins

Many mitochondrial proteins are synthesized as precursors in the cytosol with an N-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) which is cleaved off upon import. Although much is known about import mechanisms and MTS structural features, the variability of MTS still hampers robust sub-cellular software predictions. Here, we took advantage of two paralogous late embryogenesis abundant proteins (LEA) from Arabidopsis with different subcellular locations to investigate structural determinants of mitochondrial import and gain insight into the evolution of the LEA genes. LEA38 and LEA2 are short proteins of the LEA_3 family, which are very similar along their whole sequence, but LEA38 is targeted to mitochondria while LEA2 is cytosolic. Differences in the N-terminal protein sequences were used to generate a series of mutated LEA2 which were expressed as GFP-fusion proteins in leaf protoplasts. By combining three types of mutation (substitution, charge inversion, and segment replacement), we were able to redirect the mutated LEA2 to mitochondria. Analysis of the effect of the mutations and determination of the LEA38 MTS cleavage site highlighted important structural features within and beyond the MTS. Overall, these results provide an explanation for the likely loss of mitochondrial location after duplication of the ancestral gene.

Genome-Wide Analysis of the Glutathione S-Transferase Gene Family in Capsella rubella: Identification, Expression, and Biochemical Functions

Extensive subfunctionalization might explain why so many genes have been maintained after gene duplication, which provides the engine for gene family expansion. However, it is still a particular challenge to trace the evolutionary dynamics and features of functional divergences in a supergene family over the course of evolution. In this study, we identified 49 Glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes from the Capsella rubella, a close relative of Arabidopsis thaliana and a member of the mustard family. Capsella GSTs can be categorized into eight classes, with tau and phi GSTs being the most numerous. The expansion of the two classes mainly occurs through tandem gene duplication, which results in tandem-arrayed gene clusters on chromosomes. By integrating phylogenetic analysis, expression patterns, and biochemical functions of Capsella and Arabidopsis GSTs, functional divergence, both in gene expression and enzymatic properties, were clearly observed in paralogous gene pairs in Capsella (even the most recent duplicates), and orthologous GSTs in Arabidopsis/Capsella. This study provides functional evidence for the expansion and organization of a large gene family in closely related species.

Protein subcellular relocalization of duplicated genes in Arabidopsis

Gene duplications during eukaroytic evolution, by successive rounds of polyploidy and by smaller scale duplications, have provided an enormous reservoir of new genes for the evolution of new functions. Preservation of many duplicated genes can be ascribed to changes in sequences, expression patterns, and functions. Protein subcellular relocalization (protein targeting to a new location within the cell) is another way that duplicated genes can diverge. We studied subcellular relocalization of gene pairs duplicated during the evolution of the Brassicaceae including gene pairs from the alpha whole genome duplication that occurred at the base of the family. We analyzed experimental localization data from green fluorescent protein experiments for 128 duplicate pairs in Arabidopsis thaliana, revealing 19 pairs with subcellular relocalization. Many more of the duplicate pairs with relocalization than with the same localization showed an accelerated rate of amino acid sequence evolution in one duplicate, and one gene showed evidence for positive selection. We studied six duplicate gene pairs in more detail. We used gene family analysis with several pairs to infer which gene shows relocalization. We identified potential sequence mutations through comparative analysis that likely result in relocalization of two duplicated gene products. We show that four cases of relocalization have new expression patterns, compared with orthologs in outgroup species, including two with novel expression in pollen. This study provides insights into subcellular relocalization of evolutionarily recent gene duplicates and features of genes whose products have been relocalized.

Protein subcellular relocalization increases the retention of eukaryotic duplicate genes

Gene duplication is widely accepted as a key evolutionary process, leading to new genes and novel protein functions. By providing the raw genetic material necessary for functional expansion, the mechanisms that involve the retention and functional diversification of duplicate genes are one of the central topics in evolutionary and comparative genomics. One proposed source of retention and functional diversification is protein subcellular relocalization (PSR). PSR postulates that changes in the subcellular location of eukaryotic duplicate proteins can positively modify function and therefore be beneficial to the organism. As such, PSR would promote retention of those relocalized duplicates and result in significantly lower death rates compared with death rates of nonrelocalized duplicate pairs. We surveyed both relocalized and nonrelocalized duplicate proteins from the available genomes and proteomes of 59 eukaryotic species and compared their relative death rates over a Ks range between 0 and 1. Using the Cox proportional hazard model, we observed that the death rates of relocalized duplicate pairs were significantly lower than the death rates of the duplicates without relocalization in most eukaryotic species examined in this study. These observations suggest that PSR significantly increases retention of duplicate genes and that it plays an important, but currently underappreciated, role in the evolution of eukaryotic genomes.

Subcellular Relocalization and Positive Selection Play Key Roles in the Retention of Duplicate Genes of Populus Class III Peroxidase Family

Gene duplication is the primary source of new genes and novel functions. Over the course of evolution, many duplicate genes lose their function and are eventually removed by deletion. However, some duplicates have persisted and evolved diverse functions. A particular challenge is to understand how this diversity arises and whether positive selection plays a role. In this study, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of the class III peroxidase (PRX) genes from the Populus trichocarpa genome. PRXs are plant-specific enzymes that play important roles in cell wall metabolism and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. We found that two large tandem-arrayed clusters of PRXs evolved from an ancestral cell wall type PRX to vacuole type, followed by tandem duplications and subsequent functional specification. Substitution models identified seven positively selected sites in the vacuole PRXs. These positively selected sites showed significant effects on the biochemical functions of the enzymes. We also found that positive selection acts more frequently on residues adjacent to, rather than directly at, a critical active site of the enzyme, and on flexible regions rather than on rigid structural elements of the protein. Our study provides new insights into the adaptive molecular evolution of plant enzyme families.

An update of DIVERGE software for functional divergence analysis of protein family

DIVERGE is a software system for phylogeny-based analyses of protein family evolution and functional divergence. It provides a suite of statistical tools for selection and prioritization of the amino acid sites that are responsible for the functional divergence of a gene family. The synergistic efforts of DIVERGE and other methods have convincingly demonstrated that the pattern of rate change at a particular amino acid site may contain insightful information about the underlying functional divergence following gene duplication. These predicted sites may be used as candidates for further experiments. We are now releasing an updated version of DIVERGE with the following improvements: 1) a feasible approach to examining functional divergence in nearly complete sequences by including deletions and insertions (indels); 2) the calculation of the false discovery rate of functionally diverging sites; 3) estimation of the effective number of functional divergence-related sites that is reliable and insensitive to cutoffs; 4) a statistical test for asymmetric functional divergence; and 5) a new method to infer functional divergence specific to a given duplicate cluster. In addition, we have made efforts to improve software design and produce a well-written software manual for the general user.