Adaptation of the carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase enzyme in an extremophile fish

Lewis J White; Gemma Sutton; Asilatu Shechonge; Julia J Day; Kanchon K Dasmahapatra; Mary E Pownall

doi:10.1098/rsos.201200

Adaptation of the carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase enzyme in an extremophile fish

R Soc Open Sci. 2020 Oct 14;7(10):201200. doi: 10.1098/rsos.201200. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Authors

Lewis J White¹, Gemma Sutton¹, Asilatu Shechonge², Julia J Day³, Kanchon K Dasmahapatra¹, Mary E Pownall¹

Affiliations

¹ Biology Department, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.
² Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute, PO BOX 98, Kyela, Mbeya, Tanzania.
³ Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

Abstract

Tetrapods and fish have adapted distinct carbamoyl-phosphate synthase (CPS) enzymes to initiate the ornithine urea cycle during the detoxification of nitrogenous wastes. We report evidence that in the ureotelic subgenus of extremophile fish Oreochromis Alcolapia, CPS III has undergone convergent evolution and adapted its substrate affinity to ammonia, which is typical of terrestrial vertebrate CPS I. Unusually, unlike in other vertebrates, the expression of CPS III in Alcolapia is localized to the skeletal muscle and is activated in the myogenic lineage during early embryonic development with expression remaining in mature fish. We propose that adaptation in Alcolapia included both convergent evolution of CPS function to that of terrestrial vertebrates, as well as changes in development mechanisms redirecting CPS III gene expression to the skeletal muscle.

Keywords: Alcolapia; carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase; extremophile; fish; urea.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5172175