Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins and phylogenesis--UCP4 as the ancestral uncoupling protein.
We searched for the previously defined uncoupling protein (UCP) signatures [Jezek, P. and Urbánková, E. (2000) IUBMB Life 49, 63-70] in genomes of Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Dictyostelium discoideum, and Arabidopsis thaliana. We identified four UCPs in Drosophila and one in Caenorhabditis or Dictyostelium as close relatives of human UCP4 (BMCP), but distant from UCP1, UCP2, UCP3, and two plant UCPs of Arabidopsis. But the third Arabidopsis UCP is the closest UCP4 relative. This suggests that UCP4 represents the ancestral UCP from which other mammalian and plant UCPs diverged. Speculations on UCP4 participation in apoptosis are thus supported by its early phylogenetic occurrence.
Hanák
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P
Department of Membrane Transport Biophysics, No.375, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vídenská 1083, CZ 14220, Prague, Czech Republic.
Jezek
P
P
D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D017344:Genes, Insect; D017343:Genes, Plant; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D000071245:Mitochondrial Uncoupling Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D000071245:Mitochondrial Uncoupling Proteins; C117577:SLC25A27 protein, human