The evolution of function: a new method to assess the phylogenetic value of ribosomal sensitivity to antibiotics

Thirty-five archaeal, bacterial and eukaryotic translational systems have been proved against forty different protein synthesis inhibitors with diverse domain and functional specificities. The inhibition curves generated in every ribosome-antibiotic combination had previously shown interesting similarities among organisms belonging to the same phylogenetic group. This opened the possibility of using such functional information for developing evolutionary studies. A new mathematical method based on the main data components analysis has been developed to extract most of the information contained in the inhibition curves. The phenograms obtained closely resemble those generated by the small ribosomal subunit rRNA sequence comparison and such functional clustering is also congruent when a particular subset of organisms and/or antibiotics is used. These results prove the phylogenetic value of our functional analysis and suggest that the ribosome represents an interesting intersection between genotypic and phenotypic (functional) information stored in organisms.