Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 16, 1654-1663, Copyright © 1999 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
B Morgenstern and WR Atchley
Multidomain proteins usually contain several conserved and apparently
independently evolved domains. As a result, classifications based on only a
single small domain may obscure the true evolutionary relationships of the
proteins. The current classification of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH)
domain-containing proteins is based on the conserved bHLH domain alone.
Herein, we explore whether sequence homology and, therefore, evolutionary
relationships can be detected among the flanking or non-bHLH components of
the amino acid sequences of 122 bHLH proteins. These 122 proteins were the
same proteins previously used to construct the existing classification of
the bHLH- domain-containing proteins. Several possible scenarios are
examined in order to explain the observed patterns of sequence divergence,
including (1) monophyly, (2) convergent evolution, (3) addition of
functional components to the bHLH domain, and (4) modular evolution with
domain shuffling. Drawing on several lines of evidence, we suggest that
modular evolution by domain shuffling may have played an important role in
the evolution of this large group of transcriptional regulators.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Evolution of bHLH transcription factors: modular evolution by domain shuffling?
GSF, National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Biomathematics and Biometry, Neuherberg, Germany.
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