The two AGPase subunits evolve at different rates in angiosperms, yet they are equally sensitive to activity-altering amino acid changes when expressed in bacteria.
The rate of protein evolution is generally thought to reflect, at least in part, the proportion of amino acids within the protein that are needed for proper function. In the case of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), this premise led to the hypothesis that, because the AGPase small subunit is more conserved compared with the large subunit, a higher proportion of the amino acids of the small subunit are required for enzyme activity compared with the large subunit. Evolutionary analysis indicates that the AGPase small subunit has been subject to more intense purifying selection than the large subunit in the angiosperms. However, random mutagenesis and expression of the maize (Zea mays) endosperm AGPase in bacteria show that the two AGPase subunits are equally predisposed to enzyme activity-altering amino acid changes when expressed in one environment with a single complementary subunit. As an alternative hypothesis, we suggest that the small subunit exhibits more evolutionary constraints in planta than does the large subunit because it is less tissue specific and thus must form functional enzyme complexes with different large subunits. Independent approaches provide data consistent with this alternative hypothesis.
Georgelis
Nikolaos
N
Program in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology and Horticultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610-0245, USA.
Braun
Edward L
EL
Shaw
Janine R
JR
Hannah
L Curtis
LC
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000235:genetics*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D002999:Clone Cells; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018628:Gene Dosage; D051599:Glucose-1-Phosphate Adenylyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D006003:Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010802:Phylogeny; D011485:Protein Binding; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D003313:Zea mays / Q000201:enzymology*
D000596:Amino Acids; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D021122:Protein Subunits; D006003:Glycogen; D051599:Glucose-1-Phosphate Adenylyltransferase