How many genes in Arabidopsis come from cyanobacteria? An estimate from 386 protein phylogenies

Rujan, Tamas; Martin, William

doi:10.1016/s0168-9525(00)02209-5

Cited by 108 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…If we incorporate that reasonable but mildly complicating assumption to our views on early evolution, it suddenly seems silly to assume: (i) that any contemporary a-proteobacterium should have exactly the same genes as it had 2 Gyr ago; and (ii) that all genes possessed by the single a-proteobacterium that gave rise to mitochondria should be found today only among a-proteobacterial genomes (Martin 1999b). The same relatively insevere problem applies to cyanobacteria (Rujan & Martin 2001) when it comes to genes that plants acquired from plastids. Horizontal gene transfer was 'a pain in the neck' for molecular evolutionists 20 years ago (Dickerson 1980) and will still be in 20 more; it has not dashed all hopes that genome sequences will help unravel evolutionary history, it has just left a bit of tea in the cup, and swirling leaves are more difficult to read.…”

Section: Horizontal Gene Transfer: Complicating But Not Obscuring Earmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells

Martin

Russell

2003

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

Self Cite

730

621

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

All life is organized as cells. Physical compartmentation from the environment and self-organization of self-contained redox reactions are the most conserved attributes of living things, hence inorganic matter with such attributes would be life's most likely forebear. We propose that life evolved in structured iron monosulphide precipitates in a seepage site hydrothermal mound at a redox, pH and temperature gradient between sulphide-rich hydrothermal fluid and iron(II)-containing waters of the Hadean ocean floor. The naturally arising, three-dimensional compartmentation observed within fossilized seepage-site metal sulphide precipitates indicates that these inorganic compartments were the precursors of cell walls and membranes found in free-living prokaryotes. The known capability of FeS and NiS to catalyse the synthesis of the acetyl-methylsulphide from carbon monoxide and methylsulphide, constituents of hydrothermal fluid, indicates that pre-biotic syntheses occurred at the inner surfaces of these metal-sulphide-walled compartments, which furthermore restrained reacted products from diffusion into the ocean, providing sufficient concentrations of reactants to forge the transition from geochemistry to biochemistry. The chemistry of what is known as the RNA-world could have taken place within these naturally forming, catalyticwalled compartments to give rise to replicating systems. Sufficient concentrations of precursors to support replication would have been synthesized in situ geochemically and biogeochemically, with FeS (and NiS) centres playing the central catalytic role. The universal ancestor we infer was not a free-living cell, but rather was confined to the naturally chemiosmotic, FeS compartments within which the synthesis of its constituents occurred. The first free-living cells are suggested to have been eubacterial and archaebacterial chemoautotrophs that emerged more than 3.8 Gyr ago from their inorganic confines. We propose that the emergence of these prokaryotic lineages from inorganic confines occurred independently, facilitated by the independent origins of membrane-lipid biosynthesis: isoprenoid ether membranes in the archaebacterial and fatty acid ester membranes in the eubacterial lineage. The eukaryotes, all of which are ancestrally heterotrophs and possess eubacterial lipids, are suggested to have arisen ca. 2 Gyr ago through symbiosis involving an autotrophic archaebacterial host and a heterotrophic eubacterial symbiont, the common ancestor of mitochondria and hydrogenosomes. The attributes shared by all prokaryotes are viewed as inheritances from their confined universal ancestor. The attributes that distinguish eubacteria and archaebacteria, yet are uniform within the groups, are viewed as relics of their phase of differentiation after divergence from the non-free-living universal ancestor and before the origin of the free-living chemoautotrophic lifestyle. The attributes shared by eukaryotes with eubacteria and archaebacteria, respectively, are viewed as inheritances via symbiosis. The ...

show abstract

Section: Horizontal Gene Transfer: Complicating But Not Obscuring Earmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells

Martin

Russell

2003

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

Self Cite

730

621

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Under photoautotrophic conditions, DCMU and DBMIB can be used to manipulate the redox state of the PQ pool in the same way as in chloroplasts [40,41]. Furthermore, the sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome revealed that many genes of cyanobacterial origin have been maintained throughout evolution, suggesting that, at least in part, its gene products could still have their former function [42]. Experimental support for this came from a study in Synechocystis PCC 6803 that revealed a redox control pathway for reaction-centre genes with striking similarities to the chloroplast pathway described above.…”

Section: Redox Signalling Pathways In Cyanobacteria -A Model For Chlomentioning

confidence: 99%

Chloroplast redox signals: how photosynthesis controls its own genes

Pfannschmidt

2003

Trends in Plant Science

448

301

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…There is substantial evidence that chloroplasts of vascular plants have a cyanobacterial origin and that genes can be transferred from the chloroplast to the nuclear genome (Weeden, 1981;Martin and Schnarrenberger, 1997;Martin and Herrmann, 1998;Martin et al, 1998;Krepinsky et al, 2001;Rujan and Martin, 2001). Chloroplasts, originating from the endosymbiotic capture of cyanobacteria, may have shed their cellulose synthases and donated them to the nuclear genome.…”

Section: Cellulose Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Cellulose in Cyanobacteria. Origin of Vascular Plant Cellulose Synthase?

2001

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although cellulose biosynthesis among the cyanobacteria has been suggested previously, we present the first conclusive evidence, to our knowledge, of the presence of cellulose in these organisms. Based on the results of x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy of microfibrils, and cellobiohydrolase I-gold labeling, we report the occurrence of cellulose biosynthesis in nine species representing three of the five sections of cyanobacteria. Sequence analysis of the genomes of four cyanobacteria revealed the presence of multiple amino acid sequences bearing the DDD35QXXRW motif conserved in all cellulose synthases. Pairwise alignments demonstrated that CesAs from plants were more similar to putative cellulose synthases from Anabaena sp. Pasteur Culture Collection 7120 and Nostoc punctiforme American Type Culture Collection 29133 than any other cellulose synthases in the database. Multiple alignments of putative cellulose synthases from Anabaena sp. Pasteur Culture Collection 7120 and N. punctiforme American Type Culture Collection 29133 with the cellulose synthases of other prokaryotes, Arabidopsis, Gossypium hirsutum, Populus alba × Populus tremula, corn (Zea mays), and Dictyostelium discoideumshowed that cyanobacteria share an insertion between conserved regions U1 and U2 found previously only in eukaryotic sequences. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis indicates that the cyanobacterial cellulose synthases share a common branch with CesAs of vascular plants in a manner similar to the relationship observed with cyanobacterial and chloroplast 16s rRNAs, implying endosymbiotic transfer of CesA from cyanobacteria to plants and an ancient origin for cellulose synthase in eukaryotes.

show abstract

How many genes in Arabidopsis come from cyanobacteria? An estimate from 386 protein phylogenies

Cited by 108 publications

References 27 publications

On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells

On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells

Chloroplast redox signals: how photosynthesis controls its own genes

Cellulose in Cyanobacteria. Origin of Vascular Plant Cellulose Synthase?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About