Evolutionary analysis for the functional divergence of the Spo0A protein: the key sporulation control element

In Silico Biol. 2009;9(4):149-62.

Abstract

Sporulation involves inducing scores of genes in a temporally and spatially coordinated cell development programme. Its initiation is controlled by an expanded two-component signal transduction system, termed a phosphorelay. The Spo0A response regulator is the master control element in the decision to sporulate, consisting of a receiver or phosphoacceptor domain and an effector or transcription activation domain having a high degree of sequence conservation. This study examined long-term Spo0A protein evolution for determining whether concerted evolution or purifying selection was the major factor in its evolution. The proportion of synonymous (pS) and non-synonymous nucleotide (pN) differences between Spo0A genes from 28 bacterial species was analysed. DIVERGE software was used for evaluating site-specific amino acids before phylogenetic divergence between Bacillus and Clostridium for detecting site-selective constrains operating on the Spo0A protein. Evolutionary Trace software was used for tracing the phylogenetic markers for this protein.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Bacillus / classification
  • Bacillus / genetics
  • Bacillus / metabolism
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Base Sequence
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Clostridium / classification
  • Clostridium / genetics
  • Clostridium / metabolism
  • Databases, Nucleic Acid
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Signal Transduction / physiology
  • Software
  • Spores, Bacterial* / genetics
  • Spores, Bacterial* / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors / chemistry
  • Transcription Factors / genetics*
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Spo0A protein, Bacillus subtilis
  • Transcription Factors