Evolution of Prokaryotic SPFH Proteins
Author Information
Author(s): Markus Hinderhofer, Christina A Walker, Anke Friemel, Claudia A O Stuermer, Heiko Möller, Alexander Reuter
Primary Institution: University of Konstanz
Hypothesis
What is the incidence and pattern of SPFH family members in prokaryotes, and is there support for a common origin of SPFH proteins in bacteria and eukaryotes?
Conclusion
The study suggests that at least 5 subfamilies of prokaryotic SPFH proteins share a common origin, and that eukaryotic SPFH families likely originated from different prokaryotic families.
Supporting Evidence
- The analysis confirmed that most bacterial SPFH family members share a common ancestor.
- Phylogenetic evidence points towards lateral gene transfer as a source of diverse patterns of occurrence in bacterial species.
- The study identified 1486 SPFH family members across 497 bacterial genomes.
Takeaway
Scientists looked at many bacteria to understand a group of proteins and found that some of them are related and might have come from the same ancestor.
Methodology
The study involved analyzing the genomes of 497 microorganisms to investigate the occurrence and genomic vicinity of prokaryotic SPFH members.
Limitations
The study could not rule out the possibility that some bacterial species without SPFH members simply escaped detection due to low sequence similarity.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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