Functional significance may underlie the taxonomic utility of single amino acid substitutions in conserved proteins

Tyler, Kevin M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0647-8158, Wagner, Gerd K., Wu, Qiong and Huber, Katharina T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6368-7511 (2010) Functional significance may underlie the taxonomic utility of single amino acid substitutions in conserved proteins. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 70 (4). pp. 395-402. ISSN 1432-1432

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Abstract

We hypothesized that some amino acid substitutions in conserved proteins that are strongly fixed by critical functional roles would show lineage-specific distributions. As an example of an archetypal conserved eukaryotic protein we considered the active site of ß-tubulin. Our analysis identified one amino acid substitution—ß-tubulin F224—which was highly lineage specific. Investigation of ß-tubulin for other phylogenetically restricted amino acids identified several with apparent specificity for well-defined phylogenetic groups. Intriguingly, none showed specificity for “supergroups” other than the unikonts. To understand why, we analysed the ß-tubulin Neighbor-Net and demonstrated a fundamental division between core ß-tubulins (plant-like) and divergent ß-tubulins (animal and fungal). F224 was almost completely restricted to the core ß-tubulins, while divergent ß-tubulins possessed Y224. Thus, our specific example offers insight into the restrictions associated with the co-evolution of ß-tubulin during the radiation of eukaryotes, underlining a fundamental dichotomy between F-type, core ß-tubulins and Y-type, divergent ß-tubulins. More broadly our study provides proof of principle for the taxonomic utility of critical amino acids in the active sites of conserved proteins.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Science > School of Computing Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Gastroenterology and Gut Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Computational Biology Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Metabolic Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Pathogen Biology Group
Depositing User:	EPrints Services
Date Deposited:	25 Nov 2010 11:12
Last Modified:	18 Jun 2026 15:03
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/14992
DOI:	10.1007/s00239-010-9338-y

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