title: Recent Origin of the Methacrylate Redox System in Geobacter sulfurreducens AM-1 through Horizontal Gene Transfer.
abstract: The origin and evolution of novel biochemical functions remains one of the key questions in molecular evolution. We study recently emerged methacrylate reductase function that is thought to have emerged in the last century and reported in Geobacter sulfurreducens strain AM-1. We report the sequence and study the evolution of the operon coding for the flavin-containing methacrylate reductase (Mrd) and tetraheme cytochrome с (Mcc) in the genome of G. sulfurreducens AM-1. Different types of signal peptides in functionally interlinked proteins Mrd and Mcc suggest a possible complex mechanism of biogenesis for chromoproteids of the methacrylate redox system. The homologs of the Mrd and Mcc sequence found in δ-Proteobacteria and Deferribacteres are also organized into an operon and their phylogenetic distribution suggested that these two genes tend to be horizontally transferred together. Specifically, the mrd and mcc genes from G. sulfurreducens AM-1 are not monophyletic with any of the homologs found in other Geobacter genomes. The acquisition of methacrylate reductase function by G. sulfurreducens AM-1 appears linked to a horizontal gene transfer event. However, the new function of the products of mrd and mcc may have evolved either prior or subsequent to their acquisition by G. sulfurreducens AM-1.
authors.affiliation: Scryabin's Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Pushchino 142290, Russia.
authors.forename: Oksana V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Arkhipova
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) 88 Dr. Aiguader, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Margarita V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Meer
authors.affiliation: Branch of Shemyakin & Ovchinnikov's Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Pushchino 142290, Russia.
authors.forename: Galina V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Mikoulinskaia
authors.affiliation: Scryabin's Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Pushchino 142290, Russia.
authors.forename: Marina V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Zakharova
authors.affiliation: Agrophysical Research Institute RAS, Saint-Petersburg 195220, Russia; Tomsk State University, Tomsk, 634050, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Galushko
authors.affiliation: Scryabin's Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Pushchino 142290, Russia.
authors.forename: Vasilii K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Akimenko
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) 88 Dr. Aiguader, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 23 Pg. Lluís Companys, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Fyodor A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Kondrashov
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005075:Biological Evolution; D023061:Gene Order; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D045302:Geobacter / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008689:Methacrylates / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009876:Operon; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008689:Methacrylates