title: Analysis of the mouse and human acyl-CoA thioesterase (ACOT) gene clusters shows that convergent, functional evolution results in a reduced number of human peroxisomal ACOTs.
abstract: The maintenance of cellular levels of free fatty acids and acyl-CoAs, the activated form of free fatty acids, is extremely important, as imbalances in lipid metabolism have serious consequences for human health. Acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) thioesterases (ACOTs) hydrolyze acyl-CoAs to the free fatty acid and CoASH, and thereby have the potential to regulate intracellular levels of these compounds. We previously identified and characterized a mouse ACOT gene cluster comprised of six genes that apparently arose by gene duplications encoding acyl-CoA thioesterases with localizations in cytosol (ACOT1), mitochondria (ACOT2), and peroxisomes (ACOT3-6). However, the corresponding human gene cluster contains only three genes (ACOT1, ACOT2, and ACOT4) coding for full-length thioesterase proteins, of which only one is peroxisomal (ACOT4). We therefore set out to characterize the human genes, and we show here that the human ACOT4 protein catalyzes the activities of three mouse peroxisomal ACOTs (ACOT3, 4, and 5), being active on succinyl-CoA and medium to long chain acyl-CoAs, while ACOT1 and ACOT2 carry out similar functions to the corresponding mouse genes. These data strongly suggest that the human ACOT4 gene has acquired the functions of three mouse genes by a functional convergent evolution that also provides an explanation for the unexpectedly low number of human genes.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institutet, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Chemistry C1-74, Karolinska University Hospital at Huddinge, Stockhold SE-141 86, Sweden. mary.hunt@ki.se
authors.forename: Mary C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rautanen
authors.forename: Maria A K
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Westin
authors.forename: L Thomas
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: Stefan E H
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Alexson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010170:Palmitoyl-CoA Hydrolase / Q000235:genetics; D020675:Peroxisomes / Q000201:enzymology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013869:Thiolester Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D013869:Thiolester Hydrolases; C413373:ACOT2 protein, human; C506774:ACOT4 protein, human; D010170:Palmitoyl-CoA Hydrolase