RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Discovery of archaeal Fusexins homologous to eukaryotic HAP2/GCS1 gamete fusion proteins
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.10.13.464100
DO 10.1101/2021.10.13.464100
A1 David Moi
A1 Shunsuke Nishio
A1 Xiaohui Li
A1 Clari Valansi
A1 Mauricio Langleib
A1 Nicolas G. Brukman
A1 Kateryna Flyak
A1 Christophe Dessimoz
A1 Daniele de Sanctis
A1 Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool
A1 John Jumper
A1 Martin Graña
A1 Héctor Romero
A1 Pablo S. Aguilar
A1 Luca Jovine
A1 Benjamin Podbilewicz
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/16/2021.10.13.464100.abstract
AB Sexual reproduction consists of genome reduction by meiosis and subsequent gamete fusion. Presence of meiotic genes in prokaryotes suggests that DNA repair mechanisms evolved toward meiotic recombination; however, fusogenic proteins resembling those found in eukaryotes were not identified in prokaryotes. Here, we identify archaeal proteins that are homologs of fusexins, a superfamily of fusogens that mediate eukaryotic gamete and somatic cell fusion, as well as virus entry. The crystal structure of a trimeric archaeal Fusexin1 reveals novel features such as a six-helix bundle and an additional globular domain. Ectopically expressed Fusexin1 can fuse mammalian cells, and this process involves the additional domain and a conserved fusion loop. Archaeal fusexin genes exist within integrated mobile elements, potentially linking ancient archaeal gene exchanges and eukaryotic sex.One-Sentence Summary Cell membrane fusion proteins of viruses and eukaryotes are also present in archaea.Competing Interest StatementJ.J. has filed provisional patent applications relating to machine learning for predicting protein structures. The other authors declare no competing interests.