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Enzyme-Driven Speciation: Crystallizing Archaea via Lipid Capture

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Abstract

As the origin(s) of life on Earth remains an open question, detailed characteristics about the “last universal ancestor” (LUA) continue to be obscured. Here we provide arguments that strengthen the bacterial-like nature of the LUA. Our view attempts to recreate the evolution of archaeal lipids, the major components of the distinctive membrane that encapsulates these ancient prokaryotes. We show that (S)- 3-O-geranylgeranylglyceryl phosphate synthase (GGGPS), a TIM-barrel protein that performs the committed step in archaeal lipid synthesis, likely evolved from the duplication and fusion of a (βα)4 half-barrel ancestor. By comparison to the well-characterized HisA and HisF TIM-barrel proteins, we propose a time line for the invention of this diagnostic archaeal biosynthetic pathway. After excluding the possibility of horizontal gene transfer, we conclude that the evolutionary history of GGGPS mirrors the emergence of Archaea from the LUA. We illustrate aspects of this “lipid capture” model that support its likelihood in recreating key evolutionary events and, as our hypothesis is built on a single initiating event, we suggest that the appearance of GGGPS represents an example of enzyme-driven speciation.

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Acknowledgments

Given the nature of this report, we apologize for not citing or discussing many relevant contributions by a great number of authors. J.P. is grateful to Emily Cowan, Wing Lau, and Wanda Gillon for their support. We thank Dr. Masahiro Fujihashi for his assistance, and Drs. Ayeda Ayed, Ahmad Khorchid, and Michael Plevin for their comments on the manuscript. We appreciate the guidance of Drs. Niles Lehman, Martin Kreitman, and our anonymous referees. This work was supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program, the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (E.F.P.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Jian Payandeh & Emil F. Pai

  2. Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Emil F. Pai

  3. Department of Molecular & Medical Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Emil F. Pai

  4. Division of Cancer Genomics & Proteomics, Ontario Cancer Institute, MaRS Centre, Toronto Medical Discovery Tower, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1L7, Canada

    Jian Payandeh & Emil F. Pai

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  1. Jian Payandeh
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Payandeh, J., Pai, E.F. Enzyme-Driven Speciation: Crystallizing Archaea via Lipid Capture. J Mol Evol 64, 364–374 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-006-0141-8

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