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All or nothing: protein complexes flip essentiality between distantly related eukaryotes
Colm J Ryan1, Nevan J Krogan, Pádraig Cunningham
1School of Computer Science and Informatics, University College Dublin, Ireland. colm.ryan@ucd.ie
Protein essentiality in yeast is often a property of molecular machines, not individual proteins. Redundancy and moonlighting explain exceptions, with essentiality patterns differing between yeast species due to lifestyle.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Systems Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- In yeast, protein complex subunits are typically either essential or nonessential.
- Exceptions exist, with nonessential genes in essential complexes and vice versa.
Purpose of the Study:
- Explain exceptions to the rule of modular essentiality in protein complexes.
- Investigate the generalizability of modular essentiality across eukaryotic species.
- Determine factors influencing changes in protein complex essentiality between species.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of genetic interactions to identify redundancy within protein complexes.
- Identification of "moonlighting" proteins involved in multiple complexes.
- Comparative analysis of protein complex essentiality in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
Main Results:
- Redundancy within complexes, not gene duplication, explains many essentiality exceptions.
- "Moonlighting" explains essential genes in nonessential complexes.
- Modular essentiality is conserved between S. cerevisiae and S. pombe, with cohesive "flips" in essentiality patterns.
- Differential yeast lifestyles explain these essentiality flips.
Conclusions:
- Protein essentiality is driven by involvement in essential functional modules.
- Redundancy and moonlighting are key mechanisms explaining essentiality variations.
- Modular essentiality and its dynamic nature are likely general features of eukaryotes.
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