title: The phylogenetic relations of DNA-dependent RNA polymerases of archaebacteria, eukaryotes, and eubacteria.
abstract: Unrooted phylogenetic dendrograms were calculated by two independent methods, parsimony and distance matrix analysis, from an alignment of the derived amino acid sequences of the A and C subunits of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerases of the archaebacteria Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and Halobacterium halobium with 12 corresponding sequences including a further set of archaebacterial A+C subunits, eukaryotic nuclear RNA polymerases, pol I, pol II, and pol III, eubacterial beta' and chloroplast beta' and beta" subunits. They show the archaebacteria as a coherent group in close neighborhood of and sharing a bifurcation with eukaryotic pol II and (or) pol IIIA components. The most probable trees show pol IA branching off from the tree separately at a bifurcation with the eubacterial beta' lineage. The implications of these results, especially for understanding the possibly chimeric origin of the eukaryotic nuclear genome, are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zillig
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Klenk
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pühler
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gropp
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Garrett
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leffers
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001105:Archaea / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D002477:Cells / Q000201:enzymology*; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics*; D005051:Eubacterium / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases