Department of Genetics, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Trends Genet. 2010 Feb;26(2):47-51. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2009.11.009. Epub 2009 Dec 28.
Bacterial chaperonins are essential to cell viability and have a role in endosymbiosis, which leads to increased biological complexity. However, the extent to which chaperonins promote ecological innovation is unknown. We screened 622 bacterial genomes for genes encoding chaperonins, and found archaeal-like chaperonins in bacteria that inhabit archaeal ecological niches. We found that chaperonins encoded in pathogenic bacteria are the most functionally divergent. We identified the molecular basis of the dramatic structural changes in mitochondrial GROEL, a highly derived chaperonin gene. Our analysis suggests that chaperonins are important capacitors of evolutionary and ecological change.
细菌伴侣蛋白对于细胞活力至关重要，并且在导致生物复杂性增加的内共生中发挥作用。然而，伴侣蛋白促进生态创新的程度尚不清楚。我们筛选了 622 个细菌基因组中编码伴侣蛋白的基因，并在栖息于古菌生态位的细菌中发现了类似古菌的伴侣蛋白。我们发现，寄生菌中编码的伴侣蛋白在功能上的差异最大。我们确定了高度衍生的伴侣蛋白基因线粒体 GROEL 中剧烈结构变化的分子基础。我们的分析表明，伴侣蛋白是进化和生态变化的重要缓冲器。
