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Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis
BACKGROUND: The process of gene fusion involves the formation of a single chimeric gene from multiple complete or partial gene sequences. Gene fusion is recognized as an important mechanism by which genes and their protein products can evolve new functions. The presence-absence of gene fusions can a...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6332867/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30642248 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018-5412-4 |
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author | Sibbald, Shannon J. Hopkins, Julia F. Filloramo, Gina V. Archibald, John M. |
author_facet | Sibbald, Shannon J. Hopkins, Julia F. Filloramo, Gina V. Archibald, John M. |
author_sort | Sibbald, Shannon J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The process of gene fusion involves the formation of a single chimeric gene from multiple complete or partial gene sequences. Gene fusion is recognized as an important mechanism by which genes and their protein products can evolve new functions. The presence-absence of gene fusions can also be useful characters for inferring evolutionary relationships between organisms. RESULTS: Here we show that the nuclear genomes of two unrelated single-celled algae, the cryptophyte Guillardia theta and the chlorarachniophyte Bigelowiella natans, possess an unexpected diversity of genes for ubiquitin fusion proteins, including novel arrangements in which ubiquitin occupies amino-terminal, carboxyl-terminal, and internal positions relative to its fusion partners. We explore the evolution of the ubiquitin multigene family in both genomes, and show that both algae possess a gene encoding an ubiquitin-nickel superoxide dismutase fusion protein (Ubiq-NiSOD) that is widely but patchily distributed across the eukaryotic tree of life – almost exclusively in phototrophs. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that ubiquitin fusion proteins are more common than currently appreciated; because of its small size, the ubiquitin coding region can go undetected when gene predictions are carried out in an automated fashion. The punctate distribution of the Ubiq-NiSOD fusion across the eukaryotic tree could serve as a beacon for the spread of plastids from eukaryote to eukaryote by secondary and/or tertiary endosymbiosis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5412-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6332867 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-63328672019-01-23 Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis Sibbald, Shannon J. Hopkins, Julia F. Filloramo, Gina V. Archibald, John M. BMC Genomics Review BACKGROUND: The process of gene fusion involves the formation of a single chimeric gene from multiple complete or partial gene sequences. Gene fusion is recognized as an important mechanism by which genes and their protein products can evolve new functions. The presence-absence of gene fusions can also be useful characters for inferring evolutionary relationships between organisms. RESULTS: Here we show that the nuclear genomes of two unrelated single-celled algae, the cryptophyte Guillardia theta and the chlorarachniophyte Bigelowiella natans, possess an unexpected diversity of genes for ubiquitin fusion proteins, including novel arrangements in which ubiquitin occupies amino-terminal, carboxyl-terminal, and internal positions relative to its fusion partners. We explore the evolution of the ubiquitin multigene family in both genomes, and show that both algae possess a gene encoding an ubiquitin-nickel superoxide dismutase fusion protein (Ubiq-NiSOD) that is widely but patchily distributed across the eukaryotic tree of life – almost exclusively in phototrophs. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that ubiquitin fusion proteins are more common than currently appreciated; because of its small size, the ubiquitin coding region can go undetected when gene predictions are carried out in an automated fashion. The punctate distribution of the Ubiq-NiSOD fusion across the eukaryotic tree could serve as a beacon for the spread of plastids from eukaryote to eukaryote by secondary and/or tertiary endosymbiosis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5412-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2019-01-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6332867/ /pubmed/30642248 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018-5412-4 Text en © The Author(s). 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Review Sibbald, Shannon J. Hopkins, Julia F. Filloramo, Gina V. Archibald, John M. Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis |
title | Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis |
title_full | Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis |
title_fullStr | Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis |
title_full_unstemmed | Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis |
title_short | Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis |
title_sort | ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6332867/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30642248 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018-5412-4 |
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