Proteome size reduction in Apicomplexans is linked with loss of DNA repair and host redundant pathways.

Proteome size reduction in Apicomplexans is linked with loss of DNA repair and host redundant pathways. Infect Genet Evol. 2020 Dec 06;:104642 Authors: Derilus D, Rahman MZ, Serrano AE, Massey SE Abstract Apicomplexans are alveolate parasites which include Plasmodium falciparum, the main cause of malaria, one of the world's biggest killers from infectious disease. Apicomplexans are characterized by a reduction in proteome size, which appears to result from metabolic and functional simplification, commensurate with their parasitic lifestyle. However, other factors may also help to explain gene loss such as population bottlenecks experienced during transmission, and the effect of reducing the overall genomic information content. The latter constitutes an 'informational constraint', which is proposed to exert a selective pressure to evolve and maintain genes involved in informational fidelity and error correction, proportional to the quantity of information in the genome (which approximates to proteome size). The dynamics of gene loss was examined in 41 Apicomplexan genomes using orthogroup analysis. We show that loss of genes involved in amino acid metabolism and steroid biosynthesis can be explained by metabolic redundancy with the host. We also show that there is a marked tendency to lose DNA repair genes as proteome size is reduced. This may be explained by a reduction in size of the informational constraint and can help to explain ...
Source: Infection, Genetics and Evolution - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Infect Genet Evol Source Type: research