title: Nucleotide sequence of a DNA region comprising the gene for elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1 alpha) from the ultrathermophilic archaeote Pyrococcus woesei: phylogenetic implications.
abstract: The gene encoding elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1 alpha, 1290 bp) of the ultrathermophilic, sulfur-reducing archaeote Pyrococcus woesei was localized within a Bg/II fragment of chromosomal DNA. Sequence analysis showed that the EF-1 alpha gene is the upstream unit of a three-gene cluster comprising the genes for ribosomal protein S10 (306 bp) and transfer RNAser (GGA). The three genes follow each other immediately in the order EF-1 alpha.S10.tRNA(ser) after a putative promoter located 55 bp upstream of the EF-1 alpha gene. Alignment of the derived EF-1 alpha sequence with the corresponding sequences from Eukarya, Bacteria/organelles, and with available archaeal sequences (Sulfolobus, Thermococcus, Methanococcus, Halobacterium) showed that Pyrococcus EF-1 alpha is highly homologous (89% identity) to Thermococcus celer EF-1 alpha, both being strikingly more similar to eukaryotic EF-1 alpha than to bacterial EF-Tu. Unrooted dendrograms computed from aligned sequences by distance matrix and DNA parsimony methods, including evolutionary parsimony, showed the Archaea to be a monophyletic-holophyletic cluster closer to Eukarya than to Bacteria. Both distance matrix and DNA parsimony--although not evolutionary parsimony--support the partition of the known archaeal lineages between the kingdoms Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota, and the affiliation of the Pyrococcus-Thermococcus lineage to the Euryarchaeota, of which it is the most primitive offspring. A closer relation of Pyrococcus to Euryarchaeota than to Crenarchaeota was also inferred from sequence analysis of S10 ribosomal proteins.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biopatologia Umana, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Policlinico Umberto I., Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Creti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Citarella
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tiboni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanangelantoni
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cammarano
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu / Q000235:genetics; D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1; D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; C029537:ribosomal protein S10; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu