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Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis
Polycyclic triterpenes are members of the terpene family produced by the cyclization of squalene. The most representative polycyclic triterpenes are hopanoids and sterols, the former are mostly found in bacteria, whereas the latter are largely limited to eukaryotes, albeit with a growing number of b...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7306690/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32125435 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa054 |
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author | Santana-Molina, Carlos Rivas-Marin, Elena Rojas, Ana M Devos, Damien P |
author_facet | Santana-Molina, Carlos Rivas-Marin, Elena Rojas, Ana M Devos, Damien P |
author_sort | Santana-Molina, Carlos |
collection | PubMed |
description | Polycyclic triterpenes are members of the terpene family produced by the cyclization of squalene. The most representative polycyclic triterpenes are hopanoids and sterols, the former are mostly found in bacteria, whereas the latter are largely limited to eukaryotes, albeit with a growing number of bacterial exceptions. Given their important role and omnipresence in most eukaryotes, contrasting with their scant representation in bacteria, sterol biosynthesis was long thought to be a eukaryotic innovation. Thus, their presence in some bacteria was deemed to be the result of lateral gene transfer from eukaryotes. Elucidating the origin and evolution of the polycyclic triterpene synthetic pathways is important to understand the role of these compounds in eukaryogenesis and their geobiological value as biomarkers in fossil records. Here, we have revisited the phylogenies of the main enzymes involved in triterpene synthesis, performing gene neighborhood analysis and phylogenetic profiling. Squalene can be biosynthesized by two different pathways containing the HpnCDE or Sqs proteins. Our results suggest that the HpnCDE enzymes are derived from carotenoid biosynthesis ones and that they assembled in an ancestral squalene pathway in bacteria, while remaining metabolically versatile. Conversely, the Sqs enzyme is prone to be involved in lateral gene transfer, and its emergence is possibly related to the specialization of squalene biosynthesis. The biosynthesis of hopanoids seems to be ancestral in the Bacteria domain. Moreover, no triterpene cyclases are found in Archaea, invoking a potential scenario in which eukaryotic genes for sterol biosynthesis assembled from ancestral bacterial contributions in early eukaryotic lineages. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7306690 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-73066902020-06-29 Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis Santana-Molina, Carlos Rivas-Marin, Elena Rojas, Ana M Devos, Damien P Mol Biol Evol Discoveries Polycyclic triterpenes are members of the terpene family produced by the cyclization of squalene. The most representative polycyclic triterpenes are hopanoids and sterols, the former are mostly found in bacteria, whereas the latter are largely limited to eukaryotes, albeit with a growing number of bacterial exceptions. Given their important role and omnipresence in most eukaryotes, contrasting with their scant representation in bacteria, sterol biosynthesis was long thought to be a eukaryotic innovation. Thus, their presence in some bacteria was deemed to be the result of lateral gene transfer from eukaryotes. Elucidating the origin and evolution of the polycyclic triterpene synthetic pathways is important to understand the role of these compounds in eukaryogenesis and their geobiological value as biomarkers in fossil records. Here, we have revisited the phylogenies of the main enzymes involved in triterpene synthesis, performing gene neighborhood analysis and phylogenetic profiling. Squalene can be biosynthesized by two different pathways containing the HpnCDE or Sqs proteins. Our results suggest that the HpnCDE enzymes are derived from carotenoid biosynthesis ones and that they assembled in an ancestral squalene pathway in bacteria, while remaining metabolically versatile. Conversely, the Sqs enzyme is prone to be involved in lateral gene transfer, and its emergence is possibly related to the specialization of squalene biosynthesis. The biosynthesis of hopanoids seems to be ancestral in the Bacteria domain. Moreover, no triterpene cyclases are found in Archaea, invoking a potential scenario in which eukaryotic genes for sterol biosynthesis assembled from ancestral bacterial contributions in early eukaryotic lineages. Oxford University Press 2020-07 2020-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7306690/ /pubmed/32125435 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa054 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
spellingShingle | Discoveries Santana-Molina, Carlos Rivas-Marin, Elena Rojas, Ana M Devos, Damien P Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis |
title | Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis |
title_full | Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis |
title_fullStr | Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis |
title_full_unstemmed | Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis |
title_short | Origin and Evolution of Polycyclic Triterpene Synthesis |
title_sort | origin and evolution of polycyclic triterpene synthesis |
topic | Discoveries |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7306690/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32125435 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa054 |
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