Approaches to defining the ancestral eukaryotic protein complexome

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Biology
• Molecular Biology
• Systems Biology

Background:

• The ancestral eukaryotic protein complexome represents protein complexes inherited from the last common eukaryotic ancestor.
• Understanding this ancestral state is crucial for tracing eukaryotic evolution and molecular function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reconstruct and characterize the ancestral eukaryotic protein complexome.
• To analyze the evolutionary conservation and functional significance of ancestral protein complexes.

Main Methods:

• Compiled data on protein complexes from model eukaryotes.
• Developed a novel orthology detection algorithm to map complexes to a virtual ancestor (EVA).
• Performed functional and domain annotation of ancestral proteins and complexes.

Main Results:

• Successfully mapped most ancestral complexes to the Eukaryotic Virtual Ancestor (EVA).
• Identified approximately 1,400 conserved ancestral proteins, with ~90% conserved across studied eukaryotes.
• Demonstrated minimal evolutionary loss of complexes and slow acquisition of novel ones.

Conclusions:

• The ancestral eukaryotic complexome is highly conserved, with minimal loss over evolutionary time.
• The stability of the ancestral complexome supports its use in mathematical models for simulating biological processes in eukaryotes.