RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Adaptive evolution by spontaneous domain fusion and protein relocalisation
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 091744
DO 10.1101/091744
A1 Andrew D Farr
A1 Paul B Rainey
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/05/091744.abstract
AB Knowledge of adaptive processes encompasses understanding of the emergence of new genes. Computational analyses of genomes suggest that new genes can arise by domain swapping, however, empirical evidence has been lacking. Here we describe a set of nine independent deletion mutations that arose during the course of selection experiments with the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens in which the membrane-spanning domain of a fatty acid desaturase became translationally fused to a cytosolic di-guanylate cyclase (DGC) generating an adaptive phenotype. Detailed genetic analysis of one chimeric fusion protein showed that the DGC domain had become membrane-localised resulting in a new biological function. The relative ease by which this new gene arose along with its profound functional and regulatory effects provides a glimpse of mutational events and their consequences that are likely to play a significant role in the evolution of new genes.