title: Functional Divergence in Teleost Cardiac Troponin Paralogs Guides Variation in the Interaction of TnI Switch Region with TnC.
abstract: Gene duplication results in extra copies of genes that must coevolve with their interacting partners in multimeric protein complexes. The cardiac troponin (Tn) complex, containing TnC, TnI, and TnT, forms a distinct functional unit critical for the regulation of cardiac muscle contraction. In teleost fish, the function of the Tn complex is modified by the consequences of differential expression of paralogs in response to environmental thermal challenges. In this article, we focus on the interaction between TnI and TnC, coded for by genes that have independent evolutionary origins, but the co-operation of their protein products has necessitated coevolution. In this study, we characterize functional divergence of TnC and TnI paralogs, specifically the interrelated roles of regulatory subfunctionalization and structural subfunctionalization. We determined that differential paralog transcript expression in response to temperature acclimation results in three combinations of TnC and TnI in the zebrafish heart: TnC1a/TnI1.1, TnC1b/TnI1.1, and TnC1a/TnI1.5. Phylogenetic analysis of these highly conserved proteins identified functionally divergent residues in TnI and TnC. The structural and functional effect of these Tn combinations was modeled with molecular dynamics simulation to link divergent sites to changes in interaction strength. Functional divergence in TnI and TnC were not limited to the residues involved with TnC/TnI switch interaction, which emphasizes the complex nature of Tn function. Patterns in domain-specific divergent selection and interaction energies suggest that substitutions in the TnI switch region are crucial to modifying TnI/TnC function to maintain cardiac contraction with temperature changes. This integrative approach introduces Tn as a model of functional divergence that guides the coevolution of interacting proteins.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Genge
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada Cardiovascular Sciences, Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Charles M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Molecular Simulation, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Gurpreet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Molecular Simulation, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Peter Tieleman
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada Cardiovascular Sciences, Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada tibbits@sfu.ca.
authors.forename: Glen F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Tibbits
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003080:Cold Temperature; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010802:Phylogeny; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D019209:Troponin C / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019210:Troponin I / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019209:Troponin C; D019210:Troponin I
keywords: functional divergence; molecular coevolution; protein interaction; regulatory subfunctionalization; structural subfunctionalization; troponin