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Genetic Screen for Identification of Multicopy Suppressors in Schizosaccharomyces pombe
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PEX genes in fungal genomes: common, rare or redundant

Jan A K W Kiel1, Marten Veenhuis, Ida J van der Klei

  • 1Eukaryotic Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB), University of Groningen, PO Box 14, NL-9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands. J.A.K.W.Kiel@RUG.nl

Traffic (Copenhagen, Denmark)
|September 19, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Most peroxins are conserved across fungi, but Pex16p is absent in many yeasts. Gene duplication in peroxins involved in organelle proliferation, like Pex11p and Pex23p families, may complicate fungal peroxisome studies.

Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Mycology

Background:

  • Peroxisomes (microbodies) are essential organelles involved in various metabolic processes.
  • Peroxins (PEX gene products) are crucial for peroxisome biogenesis and proliferation.
  • Understanding peroxins' evolutionary conservation is key to studying their functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and analyze peroxin orthologs across diverse fungal species and humans.
  • To investigate the presence and conservation of PEX genes, particularly those involved in peroxisome proliferation.
  • To identify potential novel peroxin functions or gene duplications.

Main Methods:

  • Bioinformatic screening of protein and DNA databases.
  • Comparative analysis of PEX gene sequences across 17 fungal species and humans.
  • Identification of orthologs and paralogs of known peroxin proteins.

Main Results:

  • Most peroxins are conserved in the studied fungi.
  • Pex16p is absent in most yeast species but present in filamentous fungi and Yarrowia lipolytica.
  • Y. lipolytica PEX9 may encode a Pex26p ortholog; PEX5 and PEX21 paralogs found in S. cerevisiae and C. glabrata.
  • Multiple paralogs of peroxins in the Pex11p and Pex23p families, involved in organelle proliferation, were observed in all organisms.

Conclusions:

  • Peroxin conservation varies across fungal lineages, with notable exceptions like Pex16p.
  • Gene duplication, particularly in peroxins regulating proliferation, is a significant finding.
  • Observed redundancy in proliferation-related peroxins may present challenges for future research on peroxisome biogenesis in fungi.

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