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Microbial eukaryotes have adapted to hypoxia by horizontal acquisitions of a gene involved in rhodoquinone biosynthesis

Stairs, Courtney W. LU orcid ; Eme, Laura ; Muñoz-Gómez, Sergio A. ; Cohen, Alejandro ; Dellaire, Graham ; Shepherd, Jennifer N. ; Fawcett, James P. and Roger, Andrew J. (2018) In eLife 7.
Abstract

Under hypoxic conditions, some organisms use an electron transport chain consisting of only complex I and II (CII) to generate the proton gradient essential for ATP production. In these cases, CII functions as a fumarate reductase that accepts electrons from a low electron potential quinol, rhodoquinol (RQ). To clarify the origins of RQ-mediated fumarate reduction in eukaryotes, we investigated the origin and function of rquA, a gene encoding an RQ biosynthetic enzyme. RquA is very patchily distributed across eukaryotes and bacteria adapted to hypoxia. Phylogenetic analyses suggest lateral gene transfer (LGT) of rquA from bacteria to eukaryotes occurred at least twice and the gene was transferred multiple times amongst protists. We... (More)

Under hypoxic conditions, some organisms use an electron transport chain consisting of only complex I and II (CII) to generate the proton gradient essential for ATP production. In these cases, CII functions as a fumarate reductase that accepts electrons from a low electron potential quinol, rhodoquinol (RQ). To clarify the origins of RQ-mediated fumarate reduction in eukaryotes, we investigated the origin and function of rquA, a gene encoding an RQ biosynthetic enzyme. RquA is very patchily distributed across eukaryotes and bacteria adapted to hypoxia. Phylogenetic analyses suggest lateral gene transfer (LGT) of rquA from bacteria to eukaryotes occurred at least twice and the gene was transferred multiple times amongst protists. We demonstrate that RquA functions in the mitochondrion-related organelles of the anaerobic protist Pygsuia and is correlated with the presence of RQ. These analyses reveal the role of gene transfer in the evolutionary remodeling of mitochondria in adaptation to hypoxia.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
in
eLife
volume
7
article number
e34292
pages
23 pages
publisher
eLife Sciences Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85051840672
  • pmid:29697049
ISSN
2050-084X
DOI
10.7554/eLife.34292
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
d8d4982b-c9ff-48ab-868d-6c433b303da6
date added to LUP
2020-10-23 11:01:33
date last changed
2024-04-03 16:16:50
@article{d8d4982b-c9ff-48ab-868d-6c433b303da6,
  abstract     = {{<p>Under hypoxic conditions, some organisms use an electron transport chain consisting of only complex I and II (CII) to generate the proton gradient essential for ATP production. In these cases, CII functions as a fumarate reductase that accepts electrons from a low electron potential quinol, rhodoquinol (RQ). To clarify the origins of RQ-mediated fumarate reduction in eukaryotes, we investigated the origin and function of rquA, a gene encoding an RQ biosynthetic enzyme. RquA is very patchily distributed across eukaryotes and bacteria adapted to hypoxia. Phylogenetic analyses suggest lateral gene transfer (LGT) of rquA from bacteria to eukaryotes occurred at least twice and the gene was transferred multiple times amongst protists. We demonstrate that RquA functions in the mitochondrion-related organelles of the anaerobic protist Pygsuia and is correlated with the presence of RQ. These analyses reveal the role of gene transfer in the evolutionary remodeling of mitochondria in adaptation to hypoxia.</p>}},
  author       = {{Stairs, Courtney W. and Eme, Laura and Muñoz-Gómez, Sergio A. and Cohen, Alejandro and Dellaire, Graham and Shepherd, Jennifer N. and Fawcett, James P. and Roger, Andrew J.}},
  issn         = {{2050-084X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{eLife Sciences Publications}},
  series       = {{eLife}},
  title        = {{Microbial eukaryotes have adapted to hypoxia by horizontal acquisitions of a gene involved in rhodoquinone biosynthesis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.34292}},
  doi          = {{10.7554/eLife.34292}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}