Rapid evolutionary innovation during an Archaean genetic expansion.
Nature
; 469(7328): 93-6, 2011 Jan 06.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21170026
ABSTRACT
The natural history of Precambrian life is still unknown because of the rarity of microbial fossils and biomarkers. However, the composition of modern-day genomes may bear imprints of ancient biogeochemical events. Here we use an explicit model of macroevolution including gene birth, transfer, duplication and loss events to map the evolutionary history of 3,983 gene families across the three domains of life onto a geological timeline. Surprisingly, we find that a brief period of genetic innovation during the Archaean eon, which coincides with a rapid diversification of bacterial lineages, gave rise to 27% of major modern gene families. A functional analysis of genes born during this Archaean expansion reveals that they are likely to be involved in electron-transport and respiratory pathways. Genes arising after this expansion show increasing use of molecular oxygen (P = 3.4 × 10(-8)) and redox-sensitive transition metals and compounds, which is consistent with an increasingly oxygenating biosphere.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Phylogeny
/
Archaea
/
Evolution, Molecular
/
Genome, Archaeal
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Nature
Year:
2011
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States