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Formation of chimeric genes with essential functions at the origin of eukaryotes

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Biology, March 2018
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Title
Formation of chimeric genes with essential functions at the origin of eukaryotes
Published in
BMC Biology, March 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12915-018-0500-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Raphaël Méheust, Debashish Bhattacharya, Jananan S. Pathmanathan, James O. McInerney, Philippe Lopez, Eric Bapteste

Abstract

Eukaryotes evolved from the symbiotic association of at least two prokaryotic partners, and a good deal is known about the timings, mechanisms, and dynamics of these evolutionary steps. Recently, it was shown that a new class of nuclear genes, symbiogenetic genes (S-genes), was formed concomitant with endosymbiosis and the subsequent evolution of eukaryotic photosynthetic lineages. Understanding their origins and contributions to eukaryogenesis would provide insights into the ways in which cellular complexity has evolved. Here, we show that chimeric nuclear genes (S-genes), built from prokaryotic domains, are critical for explaining the leap forward in cellular complexity achieved during eukaryogenesis. A total of 282 S-gene families contributed solutions to many of the challenges faced by early eukaryotes, including enhancing the informational machinery, processing spliceosomal introns, tackling genotoxicity within the cell, and ensuring functional protein interactions in a larger, more compartmentalized cell. For hundreds of S-genes, we confirmed the origins of their components (bacterial, archaeal, or generally prokaryotic) by maximum likelihood phylogenies. Remarkably, Bacteria contributed nine-fold more S-genes than Archaea, including a two-fold greater contribution to informational functions. Therefore, there is an additional, large bacterial contribution to the evolution of eukaryotes, implying that fundamental eukaryotic properties do not strictly follow the traditional informational/operational divide for archaeal/bacterial contributions to eukaryogenesis. This study demonstrates the extent and process through which prokaryotic fragments from bacterial and archaeal genes inherited during eukaryogenesis underly the creation of novel chimeric genes with important functions.

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Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 71 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 14 20%
Student > Ph. D. Student 11 15%
Student > Master 10 14%
Student > Bachelor 7 10%
Student > Postgraduate 6 8%
Other 13 18%
Unknown 10 14%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 28 39%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 23 32%
Immunology and Microbiology 2 3%
Medicine and Dentistry 2 3%
Computer Science 1 1%
Other 3 4%
Unknown 12 17%