Skip Navigation


MBE Advance Access originally published online on December 23, 2003
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/3/555    most recent
msh048v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (14)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Katz, L. A.
Right arrow Articles by Muse, S. V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Katz, L. A.
Right arrow Articles by Muse, S. V.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Mol. Biol. Evol. 21(3):555-562. 2004
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msh048
© 2004 by the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. ISSN: 0737-4038

Dramatic Diversity of Ciliate Histone H4 Genes Revealed by Comparisons of Patterns of Substitutions and Paralog Divergences Among Eukaryotes

Laura A. Katz*,{dagger}, Jacob G. Bornstein{dagger}, Erica Lasek-Nesselquist*,1 and Spencer V. Muse{ddagger}

* Department of Biological Sciences, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
{dagger} Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
{ddagger} Bioinformatics Research Center, Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

E-mail: lkatz{at}smith.edu.

The accumulation of divergent histone H4 amino acid sequences within and between ciliate lineages challenges traditional views of the evolution of this essential eukaryotic protein. We analyzed histone H4 sequences from 13 species of ciliates and compared these data with sequences from well-sampled eukaryotic clades. Ciliate histone H4s differ from one another at as many as 46% of their amino acids, in contrast with the highly conserved character of this protein in most other eukaryotes. Equally striking, we find paralogs of histone H4 within ciliate genomes that differ by up to 25% of their amino acids, whereas paralogs in other eukaryotes share identical or nearly identical amino acid sequences. Moreover, the most divergent H4 proteins within ciliates are found in the lineages with highly processed macronuclear genomes. Our analyses demonstrate that the dual nature of ciliate genomes—the presence of a "germline" micronucleus and a "somatic" macronucleus within each cell—allowed the dramatic variation in ciliate histone genes by altering functional constraints or enabling adaptive evolution of the histone H4 protein, or both.

Key Words: Protein evolution • histone H4 • ciliates • macronucleus • chromosomal rearrangements, fate of paralogs


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol.Home page
M. Dunthorn, M. Eppinger, M. V. J. Schwarz, M. Schweikert, J. Boenigk, L. A. Katz, and T. Stoeck
Phylogenetic placement of the Cyrtolophosididae Stokes, 1888 (Ciliophora; Colpodea) and neotypification of Aristerostoma marinum Kahl, 1931
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol, January 1, 2009; 59(1): 167 - 180.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
T. Robinson and L. A. Katz
Non-Mendelian Inheritance of Paralogs of 2 Cytoskeletal Genes in the Ciliate Chilodonella uncinata
Mol. Biol. Evol., November 1, 2007; 24(11): 2495 - 2503.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
R. A. Zufall, C. L. McGrath, S. V. Muse, and L. A. Katz
Genome Architecture Drives Protein Evolution in Ciliates
Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2006; 23(9): 1681 - 1687.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
L. A. Katz, O. Snoeyenbos-West, and F. P. Doerder
Patterns of Protein Evolution in Tetrahymena thermophila: Implications for Estimates of Effective Population Size
Mol. Biol. Evol., March 1, 2006; 23(3): 608 - 614.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol. Biol. CellHome page
M. D. Cervantes, X. Xi, D. Vermaak, M.-C. Yao, and H. S. Malik
The CNA1 Histone of the Ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila Is Essential for Chromosome Segregation in the Germline Micronucleus
Mol. Biol. Cell, January 1, 2006; 17(1): 485 - 497.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.