Abstract.
The amino acid sequences of 22 α-amylases from family 13 of glycosyl hydrolases were analyzed with the aim of revealing the evolutionary relationships between the archaeal α-amylases and their eubacterial and eukaryotic counterparts. Two evolutionary distance trees were constructed: (i) the first one based on the alignment of extracted best-conserved sequence regions (58 residues) comprising β2, β3, β4, β5, β7, and β8 strand segments of the catalytic (α/β)8-barrel and a short conserved stretch in domain B protruding out of the barrel in the β3 →α3 loop, and (ii) the second one based on the alignment of the substantial continuous part of the (α/β)8-barrel involving the entire domain B (consensus length: 386 residues). With regard to archaeal α-amylases, both trees compared brought, in fact, the same results; i.e., all family 13 α-amylases from domain Archaea were clustered with barley pI isozymes, which represent all plant α-amylases. The enzymes from Bacillus licheniformis and Escherichia coli, representing liquefying and cytoplasmic α-amylases, respectively, seem to be the further closest relatives to archaeal α-amylases. This evolutionary relatedness clearly reflects the discussed similarities in the amino acid sequences of these α-amylases, especially in the best-conserved sequence regions. Since the results for α-amylases belonging to all three domains (Eucarya, Eubacteria, Archaea) offered by both evolutionary trees are very similar, it is proposed that the investigated conserved sequence regions may indeed constitute the ``sequence fingerprints'' of a given α-amylase.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 3 June 1998 / Accepted: 20 August 1998
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Janeček, Š., Lévêque, E., Belarbi, A. et al. Close Evolutionary Relatedness of α-Amylases from Archaea and Plants. J Mol Evol 48, 421–426 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00006486
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00006486