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Comparative molecular population genetics of phycoerythrin locus in Prochlorococcus

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Abstract

As the only remainder type of phycobiliproteins in Prochlorococcus, the actual role of phycoerythrin still remains unknown. Previous studies revealed that two different forms of phycoerythrin gene were found in two ecotypes of Prochlorococcus that are specifically adapted to either high light (HL) or low light (LL) conditions. Here we analyze patterns of phycoerythrin nucleotide variation in the HL- and LL-Prochlorococcus populations. Our analyses reveal a significantly greater number of non-synonymous fixed substitutions in peB and peA than expected based on interspecific comparisons. This pattern of excess non-synonymous fixed substitutions is not seen in other five phycoerythrin-related genes (peZ/V/Y/T/S). Several neutrality statistical tests indicate an excess of rare frequency polymorphisms in the LL-Prochlorococcus data, but an excess of intermediate frequency polymorphisms in the HL-Prochlorococcus data. Distributions of the positively selected sites identified using the likelihood ratio test, when mapped onto the phycoerythrin tertiary structure, reveal that HL- and LL-phycoerythrin should be under different selective patterns. These findings may provide insights into the likely role of selection at the phycoerythrin locus and motivate further research to unveil the function of phycoerythrin in Prochlorococcus.

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Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions. This work was supported by grants from Key Innovative Project (KZCX3-SW-215) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Fangqing Zhao & Song Qin

  2. Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China

    Fangqing Zhao

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  1. Fangqing Zhao
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  2. Song Qin
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Correspondence to Song Qin.

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Zhao, F., Qin, S. Comparative molecular population genetics of phycoerythrin locus in Prochlorococcus . Genetica 129, 291–299 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-006-0010-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-006-0010-9

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