The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Protein interactions limit the rate of evolution of photosynthetic genes in cyanobacteria.

Protein interactions limit the rate of evolution of photosynthetic genes in cyanobacteria.
Protein interactions limit the rate of evolution of photosynthetic genes in cyanobacteria.
Using a bioinformatic approach, we analyzed the correspondence in genetic distance matrices between all possible pairwise combinations of 82 photosynthetic genes in 10 species of cyanobacteria. Our analysis reveals significant correlations between proteins linked in a conserved gene order and between structurally identified interacting protein scaffolds that coordinate the binding of cofactors involved in photosynthetic electron transport. Analyses of amino acid substitution rates suggest that the tempo of evolution of genes encoding core metabolic processes in the photosynthetic apparatus is highly constrained by protein-protein, protein-lipid, and protein-cofactor interactions (collectively called "protein interactions"). These interactions are critical for energy transduction, primary charge separation, and electron transport and effectively act as an internal selection pressure governing the conservation of clusters of photosynthetic genes in oxygenic prokaryotic photoautotrophs. Consequently, although several proteins within the photosynthetic apparatus are biophysically and physiologically inefficient, selection has not significantly altered the genes encoding these essential proteins over billions of years of evolution. In effect, these core proteins have become "frozen metabolic accidents."
cyanobacteria, photosynthesis, coevolution, bioinformatics, gene order, protein-protein interactions
2179-2189
Shi, Tuo
dc3f4c97-e099-4359-9dbc-b53e856fc075
Bibby, Thomas S.
e04ea079-dd90-4ead-9840-00882de27ebd
Jiang, Lin
9e3c52cf-8467-4b4c-8210-bf3aab8f0f60
Irwin, Andrew J.
c4bb8138-505a-483b-a20b-8178d8c4f524
Falkowski, Paul G.
d2805085-f0d9-4a6a-bf40-0b8a71dc8ea9
Shi, Tuo
dc3f4c97-e099-4359-9dbc-b53e856fc075
Bibby, Thomas S.
e04ea079-dd90-4ead-9840-00882de27ebd
Jiang, Lin
9e3c52cf-8467-4b4c-8210-bf3aab8f0f60
Irwin, Andrew J.
c4bb8138-505a-483b-a20b-8178d8c4f524
Falkowski, Paul G.
d2805085-f0d9-4a6a-bf40-0b8a71dc8ea9

Shi, Tuo, Bibby, Thomas S., Jiang, Lin, Irwin, Andrew J. and Falkowski, Paul G. (2005) Protein interactions limit the rate of evolution of photosynthetic genes in cyanobacteria. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 22 (11), 2179-2189. (doi:10.1093/molbev/msi216).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Using a bioinformatic approach, we analyzed the correspondence in genetic distance matrices between all possible pairwise combinations of 82 photosynthetic genes in 10 species of cyanobacteria. Our analysis reveals significant correlations between proteins linked in a conserved gene order and between structurally identified interacting protein scaffolds that coordinate the binding of cofactors involved in photosynthetic electron transport. Analyses of amino acid substitution rates suggest that the tempo of evolution of genes encoding core metabolic processes in the photosynthetic apparatus is highly constrained by protein-protein, protein-lipid, and protein-cofactor interactions (collectively called "protein interactions"). These interactions are critical for energy transduction, primary charge separation, and electron transport and effectively act as an internal selection pressure governing the conservation of clusters of photosynthetic genes in oxygenic prokaryotic photoautotrophs. Consequently, although several proteins within the photosynthetic apparatus are biophysically and physiologically inefficient, selection has not significantly altered the genes encoding these essential proteins over billions of years of evolution. In effect, these core proteins have become "frozen metabolic accidents."

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 13 July 2005
Published date: November 2005
Keywords: cyanobacteria, photosynthesis, coevolution, bioinformatics, gene order, protein-protein interactions

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 37556
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/37556
PURE UUID: e300221a-e46a-4546-b046-0b6bc689135b

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 23 May 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:59

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Tuo Shi
Author: Thomas S. Bibby
Author: Lin Jiang
Author: Andrew J. Irwin
Author: Paul G. Falkowski

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×