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Related Experiment Videos

Recreating a functional ancestral archosaur visual pigment.

Belinda S W Chang1, Karolina Jönsson, Manija A Kazmi

  • 1Laboratory of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA.

Molecular Biology and Evolution
|August 30, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Researchers reconstructed ancestral archosaur visual pigments using phylogenetic methods. These ancient pigments were found to be functional, binding retinal and activating transducin.

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Area of Science:

  • Paleogenetics
  • Molecular Evolution
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Archosaurs, a major reptile lineage, emerged over 240 million years ago.
  • Understanding ancestral visual pigments provides insights into evolutionary adaptations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To infer and reconstruct the amino acid sequence of an ancestral archosaur visual pigment.
  • To biochemically test the function and properties of the reconstructed ancestral pigment.

Main Methods:

  • Employed maximum likelihood phylogenetic ancestral reconstruction with nucleotide, amino acid, and codon-based models.
  • Utilized likelihood ratio tests to select the best-fitting evolutionary models.
  • Chemically synthesized and expressed reconstructed genes in mammalian cells for functional assays.

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Main Results:

  • Reconstructed ancestral archosaur visual pigments bound 11-cis-retinal, forming stable, photoactive pigments.
  • The pigments exhibited a lambda(max) of approximately 508 nm, slightly redshifted compared to extant vertebrates.
  • Functional assays confirmed the activation of the retinal G protein transducin by the ancestral pigments.

Conclusions:

  • Demonstrated the feasibility of de novo reconstruction and functional testing of ancient genes.
  • Provided evidence for the functional capabilities of ancestral archosaur visual pigments.
  • Highlighted the utility of integrating phylogenetic and biochemical approaches in evolutionary studies.