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MBE Advance Access published online on March 10, 2004
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msh103
Molecular Biology and Evolution © Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2004; all rights reserved
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Accepted January 14, 2004
© 2004 Molecular Biology and Evolution © Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2004; all rights reserved.

Original Articles

Evolution of Sarcomeric Myosin Heavy Chain Genes: Evidence from Fish

Katrina McGuigan 1*, Patrick C. Phillips 2, and John H. Postlethwait 3

1 Institute of Neurosciences, 1254 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1254; Center for Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 5289 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5289
2 Center for Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 5289 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5289
3 Institute of Neurosciences, 1254 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1254

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mcguigan{at}darkwing.uoregon.edu.


  Abstract

Myosin heavy chain (MYH) is a major structural protein, integral to the function of sarcomeric muscles. We investigated both exon-intron organization and amino acid sequence of sarcomeric MYH genes to infer their evolutionary history in vertebrates. Our results were consistent with the hypothesis that a multi-gene family encoded MYH proteins in the ancestral chordate, one gene ancestral to human MYH16 and its homologues and another ancestral to all other vertebrate sarcomeric MYH genes. We identified teleost homologues of mammalian skeletal and cardiac MYH genes, indicating the ancestors of those genes were present before the divergence of actinopterygians and sarcopterygians. Indeed, the ancestral skeletal genes probably duplicated at least once before the divergence of teleosts and tetrapods. Fish homologues of mammalian skeletal MYH are expressed in skeletal tissue and homologues of mammalian cardiac genes are expressed in the heart but, unlike mammals, there is overlap between these expression domains. Our analyses inferred two other ancestral vertebrate MYH genes, giving rise to human MYH14 and MYH15 and their homologues. Relative to the skeletal and cardiac genes, MYH14 and MYH15 homologues are characterized by evolution of intron position, differences in evolutionary rate between the functionally differentiated head and rod of the myosin protein and possible evolution of function among vertebrate classes. Tandem duplication and gene conversion appear to have played major roles in the evolution of at least cardiac and skeletal MYH genes in fish. One outcome of this high level of concerted evolution is that different fish taxa have different suites of MYH genes, i.e., true orthologs do not exist.

Key Words: gene conversion, gene family, myosin, muscle, Teleost, Gasterosteus aculeatus


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