Cercozoa comprises both EF-1α-containing and EFL-containing members.
Elongation factor 1α (EF-1α) and elongation factor-like protein (EFL) are considered to be functionally equivalent proteins involved in peptide synthesis. Eukaryotes can be fundamentally divided into 'EF-1α-containing' and 'EFL-containing' types. Recently, EF-1α and EFL genes have been surveyed across the diversity of eukaryotes to explore the origin and evolution of EFL genes. Although the phylum Cercozoa is a diverse group, gene data for either EFL or EF-1α are absent from all cercozoans except chlorarachniophytes which were previously defined as EFL-containing members. Our survey revealed that two members of the cercozoan subphylum Filosa (Thaumatomastix sp. and strain YPF610) are EFL-containing members. Importantly, we identified EF-1α genes from two members of Filosa (Paracercomonas marina and Paulinella chromatophora) and a member of the other subphylum Endomyxa (Filoreta japonica). All cercozoan EFL homologues could not be recovered as a monophyletic group in maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses, suggesting that lateral gene transfer was involved in the EFL evolution in this protist assemblage. In contrast, EF-1α analysis successfully recovered a monophyly of three homologues sampled from the two cercozoan subphyla. Based on the results, we postulate that cercozoan EF-1α genes have been vertically inherited, and the current EFL-containing species may have secondarily lost their EF-1α genes.
Center for Computational Sciences and Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan. ryoma@ccs.tsukuba.ac.jp
Ryoma
R
Kamikawa
Akinori
A
Yabuki
Takuro
T
Nakayama
Ken-ichiro
K
Ishida
Tetsuo
T
Hashimoto
Yuji
Y
Inagaki
D056907:Cercozoa / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017353:Gene Deletion; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D010445:Peptide Elongation Factors; D015800:Protozoan Proteins