Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on April 27, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msi156
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/6/1529    most recent
msi156v1
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 Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Zúñiga, M.
Right arrow Articles by González-Candelas, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Zúñiga, M.
Right arrow Articles by González-Candelas, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Accepted April 14, 2005

Research Article

Horizontal Gene Transfer in the Molecular Evolution of Mannose PTS Transporters

Manuel Zúñiga 1 *, Iñaki Comas 2 *, Raquel Linaje 1, Vicente Monedero 1, María Jesús Yebra 1, Carlos David Esteban 1, Josef Deutscher 3, Gaspar Pérez-Martínez 1, and Fernando González-Candelas 2*

1 Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos, IATA-CSIC, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain
2 Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva. Universidad de Valencia. Apartado Oficial 22085, Valencia E-46071, Spain
3 Laboratoire de Microbiologie et Génétique Moléculaire, INRA-INAPG-CNRS, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Fernando González-Candelas, E-mail: fernando.gonzalez{at}uv.es


  Abstract

The phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) represents hitherto the only example of group translocation transport systems. PTS transporters are exclusively found in bacteria and can be grouped on the basis of sequence and structure into six classes. We have analyzed the evolution of mannose class PTS transporters. These transporters have a limited distribution among bacteria being mostly harboured by species associated to animals. The results obtained indicate that these genes have undergone a complex evolutionary history, including extensive horizontal gene transfer events, duplications, and non-orthologous displacements. The phylogenetic analysis revealed an early diversification to specialize in different transport capabilities but these events have also occurred relatively recently. In addition, these transporters can be further divided into seven groups and this division correlates with their transport capabilities. Finally, the consideration of the genomic context allowed us to propose putative functional roles for some uncharacterized PTS transporters. The functional role and distribution of mannose class PTS transporters suggest that their expansion may have played a significant role in the establishment of symbiotic relationships between animals and some bacteria.

Keywords: horizontal transfer; mannose PTS transporter; maximum likelihood.

*These two authors contributed equally to this work.


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




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.