Glutamine synthetase gene evolution: a good molecular clock (original) (raw)

Abstract

Glutamine synthetase (EC 6.3.1.2) gene evolution in various animals, plants, and bacteria was evaluated by a general stationary Markov model. The evolutionary process proved to be unexpectedly regular even for a time span as long as that between the divergence of prokaryotes from eukaryotes. This enabled us to draw phylogenetic trees for species whose phylogeny cannot be easily reconstructed from the fossil record. Our calculation of the times of divergence of the various organelle-specific enzymes led us to hypothesize that the pea and bean chloroplast genes for these enzymes originated from the duplication of nuclear genes as a result of the different metabolic needs of the various species. Our data indicate that the duplication of plastid glutamine synthetase genes occurred long after the endosymbiotic events that produced the organelles themselves.

522

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Almassy R. J., Janson C. A., Hamlin R., Xuong N. H., Eisenberg D. Novel subunit-subunit interactions in the structure of glutamine synthetase. 1986 Sep 25-Oct 1Nature. 323(6086):304–309. doi: 10.1038/323304a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Caizzi R., Bozzetti M. P., Caggese C., Ritossa F. Homologous nuclear genes encode cytoplasmic and mitochondrial glutamine synthetase in Drosophila melanogaster. J Mol Biol. 1990 Mar 5;212(1):17–26. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(90)90301-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Edmands J., Noridge N. A., Benson D. R. The actinorhizal root-nodule symbiont Frankia sp. strain CpI1 has two glutamine synthetases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Sep;84(17):6126–6130. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.17.6126. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gouy M., Gautier C., Attimonelli M., Lanave C., di Paola G. ACNUC--a portable retrieval system for nucleic acid sequence databases: logical and physical designs and usage. Comput Appl Biosci. 1985 Sep;1(3):167–172. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/1.3.167. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hori H., Osawa S. Evolution of ribosomal proteins in Enterobacteriaceae. J Bacteriol. 1978 Mar;133(3):1089–1095. doi: 10.1128/jb.133.3.1089-1095.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lanave C., Preparata G., Saccone C. Mammalian genes as molecular clocks? J Mol Evol. 1984;21(4):346–350. doi: 10.1007/BF02115653. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lanave C., Tommasi S., Preparata G., Saccone C. Transition and transversion rate in the evolution of animal mitochondrial DNA. Biosystems. 1986;19(4):273–283. doi: 10.1016/0303-2647(86)90004-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mommsen T. P., Walsh P. J. Evolution of urea synthesis in vertebrates: the piscine connection. Science. 1989 Jan 6;243(4887):72–75. doi: 10.1126/science.2563172. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ochman H., Wilson A. C. Evolution in bacteria: evidence for a universal substitution rate in cellular genomes. J Mol Evol. 1987;26(1-2):74–86. doi: 10.1007/BF02111283. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Preparata G., Saccone C. A simple quantitative model of the molecular clock. J Mol Evol. 1987;26(1-2):7–15. doi: 10.1007/BF02111277. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rothschild L. J., Ragan M. A., Coleman A. W., Heywood P., Gerbi S. A. Are rRNA sequence comparisons the Rosetta stone of phylogenetics? Cell. 1986 Dec 5;47(5):640–640. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90505-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Saccone C., Lanave C., Pesole G., Preparata G. Influence of base composition on quantitative estimates of gene evolution. Methods Enzymol. 1990;183:570–583. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(90)83037-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Saccone C., Pesole G., Preparata G. DNA microenvironments and the molecular clock. J Mol Evol. 1989 Nov;29(5):407–411. doi: 10.1007/BF02602910. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Shatters R. G., Kahn M. L. Glutamine synthetase II in Rhizobium: reexamination of the proposed horizontal transfer of DNA from eukaryotes to prokaryotes. J Mol Evol. 1989 Nov;29(5):422–428. doi: 10.1007/BF02602912. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Sueoka N. Directional mutation pressure and neutral molecular evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Apr;85(8):2653–2657. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.8.2653. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Yamashita M. M., Almassy R. J., Janson C. A., Cascio D., Eisenberg D. Refined atomic model of glutamine synthetase at 3.5 A resolution. J Biol Chem. 1989 Oct 25;264(30):17681–17690. doi: 10.2210/pdb2gls/pdb. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Zuckerkandl E. On the molecular evolutionary clock. J Mol Evol. 1987;26(1-2):34–46. doi: 10.1007/BF02111280. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]