title: Comparative Study of different msDNA (multicopy single-stranded DNA) structures and phylogenetic comparison of reverse transcriptases (RTs): evidence for vertical inheritance.
abstract: The multi-copy single-stranded DNA (msDNA) is yielded by the action of reverse transcriptase of retro-element in a wide range of pathogenic bacteria. Upon this phenomenon, it has been shown that msDNA is only produced by Eubacteria because many Eubacteria species contained reverse transcriptase in their special retro-element. We have screened around 111 Archaea at KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) database available at genome net server and observed three Methanosarcina species (M.acetivorans, M.barkeri and M.mazei), which also contained reverse transcriptase in their genome sequences. This observation of reverse transcriptase in Archaea raises questions regarding the origin of this enzyme. The evolutionary relationship between these two domains of life (Eubacteria and Archaea) hinges upon the phenomenon of retrons. Interestingly, the evolutionary trees based on the reverse transcriptases (RTs) and 16S ribosomal RNAs point out that all the Eubacteria RTs were descended from Archaea RTs during their evolutionary times. In addition, we also have shown some significant structural features among the newly identified msDNA-Yf79 in Yersinia frederiksenii with other of its related msDNAs (msDNA-St85, msDNA-Vc95, msDNA-Vp96, msDNA-Ec78 and msDNA-Ec83) from pathogenic bacteria. Together the degree of sequence conservation among these msDNAs, the evolutionary trees and the distribution of these ret (reverse transcriptase) genes suggest a possible evolutionary scenario. The single common ancestor of the organisms of Eubacteria and Archaea subgroups probably achieved this ret gene during their evolution through the vertical descent rather than the horizontal transformations followed by integration into this organism genome by a mechanism related to phage recognition and/or transposition.
authors.forename: Rasel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimamoto
authors.forename: Sultan Mohammad Zahid
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hosen
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arifuzzaman
references.citation: Nature. 1970 Jun 27;226(5252):1211-3
references.pmid: 4316301
references.citation: Mol Microbiol. 1991 Aug;5(8):1863-72
references.pmid: 1722556
references.citation: J Bacteriol. 1997 Dec;179(24):7865-8
references.pmid: 9401048
references.citation: Mol Microbiol. 1994 Nov;14(3):437-41
references.pmid: 7885227
references.citation: J Bacteriol. 1997 Oct;179(20):6518-21
references.pmid: 9335306
references.citation: J Bacteriol. 1996 Aug;178(15):4438-44
references.pmid: 8755870
references.citation: EMBO J. 1990 Oct;9(10):3353-62
references.pmid: 1698615
references.citation: Bioinformatics. 2009 May 1;25(9):1189-91
references.pmid: 19151095
references.citation: Mol Microbiol. 1992 Dec;6(23):3531-42
references.pmid: 1282191
references.citation: FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2003 Jul 29;224(2):291-7
references.pmid: 12892895
references.citation: Cell. 1989 Mar 10;56(5):891-904
references.pmid: 2466573
references.citation: FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1996 Oct 15;144(1):109-15
references.pmid: 8870259
references.citation: J Bacteriol. 1991 Jul;173(13):4171-81
references.pmid: 1712012
references.citation: Bioinformatics. 2007 Nov 1;23(21):2947-8
references.pmid: 17846036