tRNA-dependent cysteine biosynthetic pathway represents a strategy to increase cysteine contents by preventing it from thermal degradation: thermal adaptation of methanogenic archaea ancestor.
Although cysteine (Cys) is beneficial to stabilize protein structures, it is not prevalent in thermophiles. For instance, the Cys contents in most thermophilic archaea are only around 0.7%. However, methanogenic archaea, no matter thermophilic or not, contain relatively abundant Cys, which remains elusive for a long time. Recently, Klipcan et al. correlated this intriguing property of methanogenic archaea with their unique tRNA-dependent Cys biosynthetic pathway. But, the deep reasons underlying the correlation are ambiguous. Considering the facts that free Cys is thermally labile and the tRNA-dependent Cys biosynthesis avoids the use of free Cys, we speculate that the unique Cys biosynthetic pathway represents a strategy to increase Cys contents by preventing it from thermal degradation, which may be relevant to the thermal adaptation of methanogenic archaea ancestor.
Qu
Ge
G
Shandong Provincial Research Center for Bioinformatic Engineering and Technique, Center for Advanced Study, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, PR China.
Wang
Wei
W
Chen
Ling-Ling
LL
Qian
Shao-Song
SS
Zhang
Hong-Yu
HY
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001216:Asparagine / Q000378:metabolism; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism*; D005973:Glutamine / Q000378:metabolism; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism; D012346:RNA, Transfer, Amino Acyl / Q000378:metabolism*
D012346:RNA, Transfer, Amino Acyl; D005973:Glutamine; D001216:Asparagine; D003545:Cysteine; D008697:Methane