The circadian input kinase A (cikA) gene encodes a protein relaying environmental signal to the central circadian oscillator in cyanobacteria. The CikA protein has a variable architecture and usually consists of four tandemly arrayed domains: GAF, histidine kinase (HisKA), histidine kinase-like ATPase (HATPase_c), and a pseudo-receiver (REC). Among them, HisKA and HATPase_c are the least polymorphic, and REC is not present in heterocystic filamentous cyanobacteria. CikA contains several conserved motifs that are likely important for circadian function. There are at least three types of circadian systems, each of which possesses a different set of circadian genes. The originally described circadian system (kaiABC system) possesses both cikA and kaiA, while the others lack either only cikA (kaiABC (Delta)) or both (kaiBC). The results we obtained allowed us to approximate the time of the cikA origin to be about 2600-2200 MYA and the time of its loss in the species with the kaiABC (Delta) or kaiBC system between 1100 and 600 MYA. Circadian specialization of CikA, as opposed to its non-circadian homologs, is a result of several factors, including the unique conserved domain architecture and high evolutionary constraints of some domains and regions, which were previously identified as critical for the circadian function of the gene.
The mechanism of an organism's adaptation to high temperatures has been investigated intensively in recent years. It was suggested that the macromolecules of thermophilic microorganisms (especially proteins) have structural features that enhance their thermostability. We compared mRNA sequences of 72 fully sequenced prokaryotic proteomes (14 thermophilic and 58 mesophilic species). Although the differences between the percentage of adenine plus guanine content of whole mRNAs of different prokaryotic species are much lower than those of guanine plus cytosine content, the thermophile purinepyrimidine (R/Y) ratio within their mRNAs is significantly higher than that of the mesophiles. The first and third codon positions of both thermophiles and mesophiles are purine-biased, with the bias more pronounced by the thermophiles. Thermophile mRNAs that display the highest R/Y ratio (1.43-1.69) are those of the ribosomal proteins, histone-like proteins, DNA-dependent RNA polymerase subunits, and heat-shock proteins. Within mesophilic prokaryotes and five eukaryotic species, the R/Y ratio of the mRNAs of heat-shock proteins is higher than their average over coding part of the genome. Polypurine tracts (R) n (with n > 5) are much more abundant within the thermophile mRNAs compared with mesophiles. Between two sequential pure-purinic codons of thermophile mRNAs, there is a rather strong tendency for the occurrence of adenine but not guanine tracts. The data suggest that mixed adenine⅐guanine and polyadenine tracts in mRNAs increase the thermostability beyond the contribution of amino acids encoded by purine tracts, which highlights the importance of ecological stress in the evolution of genome architecture.A daptive strategies of organisms to extreme environments such as exceptional salinity, high pressure, nonphysiological pH, anaerobic conditions, and high and low temperatures are of primary importance for evolutionary studies (1). Revealing and understanding the special features of the macromolecules of thermophilic prokaryotes with high to very high optimum growth temperatures (OGTs) (50-113°C), compared with much lower ranges (20-37°C) of prokaryotic mesophiles, is of particular interest. Historically, investigators first were interested in revealing the unique features of the thermophile proteins that contribute to their thermostability (2, 3). Clarifying the principles of enhanced thermostability is important theoretically and practically. Deciphering improved enzymes with higher thermostability is of significant economic value to some industries. In this study, our aim was to unravel differences between mRNAs and the proteins of thermophiles and mesophiles to identify common features of the thermophiles' molecules that might contribute to thermostability. We restricted this study to the protein-coding transcripts. Understanding how the adaptation of the transcription and translation machinery (and products) to high temperature is achieved is central to both theoretical models and in vitro experimentation. Therefore, b...
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