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Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts01:57

Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts

Groups of proteins may form a complex where each protein in this complex has a different role in the overall execution of the complex’s function. Often some of the proteins in the complex can be replaced by a closely related variant to give a complex that contains many of the same components yet is functionally distinct.
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Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts01:57

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Evolution of increased complexity in a molecular machine.

Gregory C Finnigan1, Victor Hanson-Smith, Tom H Stevens

  • 1Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.

Nature
|January 11, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The evolution of complex molecular machines, like the V-ATPase proton pump, involved gene duplication and complementary loss of protein interactions, not new functions. This study reveals simple evolutionary processes driving molecular complexity.

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Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Cellular processes rely on molecular machines, complex protein assemblies.
  • Mechanisms of molecular machine evolution remain poorly understood.
  • The V-ATPase proton pump is an essential eukaryotic molecular machine.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate the evolutionary path of the V-ATPase proton pump's transmembrane ring complexity.
  • Determine how a three-paralogue ring evolved from a two-paralogue ancestor.
  • Elucidate the role of gene duplication and interface loss in increasing molecular complexity.

Main Methods:

  • Ancestral gene resurrection to reconstruct ancient protein forms.
  • Manipulative genetic experiments to test evolutionary hypotheses.
  • Analysis of protein-protein interaction interfaces.

Main Results:

  • The fungal V-ATPase ring (three paralogues) evolved from a two-paralogue complex via gene duplication.
  • Daughter copies lost complementary interaction interfaces, becoming specialized.
  • Specific ancestral mutations recapitulated this degeneration process.

Conclusions:

  • Increased molecular machine complexity can arise from simple evolutionary events like gene duplication and interface loss.
  • Evolution of complexity in the V-ATPase did not require novel functions.
  • This mechanism offers insight into the evolution of other multi-paralogue protein complexes.