Origins and evolution of isoprenoid lipid biosynthesis in archaea.

Molecular microbiology ·Vol. 52 ·No. 2 ·2004-04-00 ·Pages 515-27

Boucher Y, Kamekura M, Doolittle WF

Abstract

A characteristic feature of the domain archaea are the lipids forming the hydrophobic core of their cell membrane. These unique lipids are composed of isoprenoid side-chains stereospecifically ether linked to sn-glycerol-1-phosphate. Recently, considerable progress has been made in characterizing the enzymes responsible for the synthesis of archaeal lipids. However, little is known about their evolution. To better understand how this unique biosynthetic apparatus came to be, large-scale database surveys and phylogenetic analyses were performed. All characterized enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of isoprenoid side-chains and the glycerol phosphate backbone along with their assembly in ether lipids were included in these analyses. The sequence data available in public databases was complemented by an in-depth sampling of isoprenoid lipid biosynthesis genes from multiple genera of the archaeal order Halobacteriales, allowing us to look at the evolution of these enzymes on a smaller phylogenetic scale. This investigation of the isoprenoid biosynthesis apparatus of archaea on small and large phylogenetic scales reveals that it evolved through a combination of evolutionary processes, including the co-option of ancestral enzymes, modification of enzymatic specificity, orthologous and non-orthologous gene displacement, integration of components from eukaryotes and bacteria and lateral gene transfer within and between archaeal orders.

MeSH Terms

Alkyl and Aryl Transferases/genetics,metabolism Archaea/chemistry,enzymology,genetics,metabolism Archaeal Proteins/genetics Biological Evolution Genome, Archaeal Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase/genetics,metabolism Glycerophosphates/metabolism Lipids/biosynthesis,chemistry Membrane Lipids/biosynthesis,chemistry,metabolism Mevalonic Acid/metabolism Molecular Sequence Data Phylogeny Terpenes/metabolism

Chemicals

Archaeal Proteins Glycerophosphates Lipids Membrane Lipids Terpenes Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase Alkyl and Aryl Transferases phosphoglycerol geranylgeranyltransferase Mevalonic Acid

Authors & Affiliations

3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID

Boucher Yan

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 5859 University Avenue, B3H 4H7 Canada. yboucher@dal.ca

Kamekura Masahiro

Doolittle W Ford

Article Info

Journal

Molecular microbiology

Abbr.

Mol Microbiol

ISSN

0950-382X

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2958.2004.03992.x

yboucher@dal.ca

Published

2004-04-00

Pages

515-27

Language

English

Region

England

NLM ID

8712028

Subset

Databases

GENBANK

AJ564466, AJ564467, AJ564468, AJ564469, AJ564470, AJ564471, AJ564472, AJ564473, AJ564474, AJ564475, AJ564476, AJ564477, AJ564478, AJ564479, AJ564480, AJ564481, AJ564482, AJ564483, AJ564484, AJ564485, AJ564486, AJ564487, AJ564488, AJ564489, AJ564490, AJ564491, AJ564492, AJ564493, AJ564494, AJ564495, AJ566212

External Links

PubMed source DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2004.03992.x View journal details

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Origins and evolution of isoprenoid lipid biosynthesis in archaea.

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