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Molecular evolution of hisB genes.

Matteo Brilli1, Renato Fani

  • 1Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e Genetica, Via Romana 17-19, 1-50125, Firenze, Italy.

Journal of Molecular Evolution
|March 26, 2004
PubMed
Summary

The bifunctional hisB gene, crucial for histidine biosynthesis, likely arose from a recent fusion of two genes within the proteobacterial lineage. This evolutionary event also explains the origin of a gene involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis.

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Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Histidine biosynthesis involves imidazole glycerol-phosphate (IGP) dehydratase and histidinol-phosphate (HOL-P) phosphatase.
  • In many organisms, these enzymes are encoded by separate genes, but in enterobacteria and some other bacteria, they are part of a single bifunctional HisB protein.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary origins of the bifunctional hisB gene.
  • To elucidate the relationship between the HisB protein and other enzymes involved in cellular processes.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of amino acid sequences of HisB proteins from various taxa.
  • Phylogenetic analysis to reconstruct evolutionary pathways.
  • Identification of gene duplication events and their potential roles.

Main Results:

  • The bifunctional hisB gene likely resulted from a recent fusion of two ancestral genes via domain-shuffling, originating in the proteobacterial lineage.
  • A paralogous gene duplication event involving an ancestral DDDD phosphatase gene led to both the HOL-P phosphatase component of E. coli hisB and the gmhB gene.
  • The gmhB gene is implicated in the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) precursors.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of the bifunctional hisB gene is a relatively recent event within the proteobacteria.
  • The study reveals a shared evolutionary origin for enzymes involved in histidine biosynthesis and LPS outer core formation, highlighting gene fusion and duplication as key evolutionary mechanisms.

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