@ARTICLE{TreeBASE2Ref28050,
author = {Tu Anh Nguyen and Jamie Greig and Asif Khan and Cara Goh and Gregory Jedd},
title = {Evolutionary novelty through horizontal gene transfer and high-order protein assembly},
year = {2018},
keywords = {Horizontal gene transfer, gravitropism, evolutionary novelty},
doi = {},
url = {http://},
pmid = {},
journal = {PLoS Biology},
volume = {},
number = {},
pages = {},
abstract = {Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) can promote evolutionary adaptation by transforming a
species? relationship to the environment. Most well understood cases of HGT involve
the transfer of enzyme-encoding genes, where acquired and donor functions appear to
remain closely related. The degree to which HGT can lead to evolutionary novelties
remains unclear. Mucorales fungi sense gravity through the sedimentation of vacuolar
protein crystals. Here, we identify their major constituent protein, OCTIN. Phylogenetic analysis strongly supports acquisition of octin by HGT from bacteria to the common ancestor of the Mucorales. A bacterial OCTIN forms high-order oligomers in the periplasm and disulphide bonds underlie the stability of both crystals and bacterial oligomers, suggesting that they share elements of a conserved assembly mechanism. However, estimated sedimentation velocities of bacterial OCTIN oligomers preclude any speculated role in bacterial gravity sensing. Together, out data suggest that HGT into the Mucorales allowed a dramatic increase in assembly scale and acquisition of the gravity sensing function. We conclude that HGT can lead to evolutionary novelties that emerge depending on the cellular context of protein assembly.}
}