Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: How complex, multi-component macromolecular machines evolved remains poorly understood. Here we reveal the evolutionary origins of the chemosensory machinery that controls flagellar motility in Escherichia coli. We first identify ancestral forms still present in Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shewanella oneidensis and Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum, characterizing their structures by electron cryotomography and finding evidence that they function in a stress response pathway. Using bioinformatics, we trace the evolution of the system through γ-Proteobacteria, pinpointing key evolutionary events that led to the machine now seen in E. coli. Our results suggest that two ancient chemosensory systems with different inputs and outputs (F6 and F7) existed contemporaneously, with one (F7) ultimately taking over the inputs and outputs of the other (F6), which was subsequently lost.
Source: Nature Communications
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,380
Funders: National Science Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, John Templeton Foundation, California Institute of Technology, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Awards: Imaging large macromolecular complexes inside cells with electron cryotomography, G1554339614, Developments in Electromagnetic Geophysics - Data modelling and application to groundwater studies, G2496879233, Sensing, Signaling and the Role of Aer-2-Regulated Chemosensory Systems, G3149304347, G6221540613, The Boundaries of Life Research Initiative: Asking fundamental questions about the origins, evolution and diversity of life on Earth and beyond, Microbial Conversion of Greenhouse Gases into Fermentation-Ready Sugars, G6913231769, G7077397202, Boundaries of Life Initiative: seeking fundamental advances in the nature, origins and limits of life, G9000268964, Center for Cystic Fibrosis Translational Research in the Post-CFTR modulator Era
OpenAlex ID: W3018558279