Repurposing a chemosensory macromolecular machine
Nature Communications, vol. 11, pp. 2041
Abstract
How complex, multi-component macromolecular machines evolved remains poorly understood. Here we reveal the evolutionary origins of the chemosensory machinery that controls flagellar motility in Escherichia coli. We first identify ancestral forms still present in Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shewanella oneidensis and Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum, characterizing their structures by electron cryotomography and finding evidence that they function in a stress response pathway. Using bioinformatics, we trace the evolution of the system through γ-Proteobacteria, pinpointing key evolutionary events that led to the machine now seen in E. coli. Our results suggest that two ancient chemosensory systems with different inputs and outputs (F6 and F7) existed contemporaneously, with one (F7) ultimately taking over the inputs and outputs of the other (F6), which was subsequently lost.
Authors 14
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California Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, 2333 BE, Leiden, The Netherlands
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California Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA
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Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, D-35043, Marburg, Germany
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California Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA
Rex Richards Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK
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California Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Division of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, 92350, USA
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University of Southern California
Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Biology, Viral Information Institute, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
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ETH Zurich · Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Biology, Viral Information Institute, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
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Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, D-35043, Marburg, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, 2333 BE, Leiden, The Netherlands. a.briegel@biology.leidenuniv.nl
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, 2333 BE, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Grant J. Jensen corresponding
California Institute of Technology · Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Affiliation as printed
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, C1125, USA. jensen@caltech.edu
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA. jensen@caltech.edu
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA
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