title: MamA as a Model Protein for Structure-Based Insight into the Evolutionary Origins of Magnetotactic Bacteria.
abstract: MamA is a highly conserved protein found in magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), a diverse group of prokaryotes capable of navigating according to magnetic fields - an ability known as magnetotaxis. Questions surround the acquisition of this magnetic navigation ability; namely, whether it arose through horizontal or vertical gene transfer. Though its exact function is unknown, MamA surrounds the magnetosome, the magnetic organelle embedding a biomineralised nanoparticle and responsible for magnetotaxis. Several structures for MamA from a variety of species have been determined and show a high degree of structural similarity. By determining the structure of MamA from Desulfovibrio magneticus RS-1 using X-ray crystallography, we have opened up the structure-sequence landscape. As such, this allows us to perform structural- and phylogenetic-based analyses using a variety of previously determined MamA from a diverse range of MTB species across various phylogenetic groups. We found that MamA has remained remarkably constant throughout evolution with minimal change between different taxa despite sequence variations. These findings, coupled with the generation of phylogenetic trees using both amino acid sequences and 16S rRNA, indicate that magnetotaxis likely did not spread via horizontal gene transfer and instead has a significantly earlier, primordial origin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zeytuni
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cronin
authors.affiliation: CEA/CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université, UMR 7265 Biologie Végétale et Microbiologie Environnementales, Laboratoire de Bioénergétique Cellulaire, Saint Paul les Durance, France.
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Lefèvre
authors.affiliation: CEA/CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université, UMR 7265 Biologie Végétale et Microbiologie Environnementales, Laboratoire de Bioénergétique Cellulaire, Saint Paul les Durance, France.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arnoux
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Dror
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baran
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Zvi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shtein
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Geula
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Davidov
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Raz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zarivach
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D003901:Desulfovibrio / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S