Endosymbiotic gene transfer: organelle genomes forge eukaryotic chromosomes

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy N. Timmis ◽  
Michael A. Ayliffe ◽  
Chun Y. Huang ◽  
William Martin
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer ◽  
Organelle Genomes

scholarly journals Horizontal Gene Transfer Involving Chloroplasts

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4484
Author(s):  
Ewa Filip ◽  
Lidia Skuza
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Chloroplast Genomes ◽  
Organelle Genomes ◽  
Number Of Genes ◽  
Cellular Compartments

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT)- is defined as the acquisition of genetic material from another organism. However, recent findings indicate a possible role of HGT in the acquisition of traits with adaptive significance, suggesting that HGT is an important driving force in the evolution of eukaryotes as well as prokaryotes. It has been noted that, in eukaryotes, HGT is more prevalent than originally thought. Mitochondria and chloroplasts lost a large number of genes after their respective endosymbiotic events occurred. Even after this major content loss, organelle genomes still continue to lose their own genes. Many of these are subsequently acquired by intracellular gene transfer from the original plastid. The aim of our review was to elucidate the role of chloroplasts in the transfer of genes. This review also explores gene transfer involving mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, though recent studies indicate that chloroplast genomes are far more active in HGT as compared to these other two DNA-containing cellular compartments.

scholarly journals Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer and Transcriptional Regulation of Transferred Genes in Paulinella chromatophora

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 407-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. M. Nowack ◽  
H. Vogel ◽  
M. Groth ◽  
A. R. Grossman ◽  
M. Melkonian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcriptional Regulation ◽  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer

scholarly journals The economics of endosymbiotic gene transfer and the evolution of organellar genomes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Host Cell ◽  
Protein Import ◽  
Nuclear Genome ◽  
Selective Advantage ◽  
Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer ◽  
Organellar Genomes ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Life On Earth

AbstractThe endosymbiosis of the bacterial progenitors of mitochondrion and the chloroplast are landmark events in the evolution of life on earth. While both organelles have retained substantial proteomic and biochemical complexity, this complexity is not reflected in the content of their genomes. Instead, the organellar genomes encode fewer than 5% of genes found in living relatives of their ancestors. While some of the 95% of missing organellar genes have been discarded, many have been transferred to the host nuclear genome through a process known as endosymbiotic gene transfer. Here we demonstrate that the energy liberated or consumed by a cell as a result of endosymbiotic gene transfer can be sufficient to provide a selectable advantage for retention or nuclear-transfer of organellar genes in eukaryotic cells. We further demonstrate that for realistic estimates of protein abundances, organellar protein import costs, host cell sizes, and cellular investment in organelles that it is energetically favourable to transfer the majority of organellar genes to the nuclear genome. Moreover, we show that the selective advantage of such transfers is sufficiently large to enable such events to rapidly reach fixation. Thus, endosymbiotic gene transfer can be advantageous in the absence of any additional benefit to the host cell, providing new insight into the processes that have shaped eukaryotic genome evolution.One sentence summaryThe high copy number of organellar genomes renders endosymbiotic gene transfer energetically favourable for the vast majority of organellar genes.

scholarly journals The economics of organellar gene loss and endosymbiotic gene transfer

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Nuclear Genome ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Net Energy ◽  
Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer ◽  
Organellar Genomes ◽  
Chloroplast Genomes ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Life On Earth

Abstract Background The endosymbiosis of the bacterial progenitors of the mitochondrion and the chloroplast are landmark events in the evolution of life on Earth. While both organelles have retained substantial proteomic and biochemical complexity, this complexity is not reflected in the content of their genomes. Instead, the organellar genomes encode fewer than 5% of the genes found in living relatives of their ancestors. While many of the 95% of missing organellar genes have been discarded, others have been transferred to the host nuclear genome through a process known as endosymbiotic gene transfer. Results Here, we demonstrate that the difference in the per-cell copy number of the organellar and nuclear genomes presents an energetic incentive to the cell to either delete organellar genes or transfer them to the nuclear genome. We show that, for the majority of transferred organellar genes, the energy saved by nuclear transfer exceeds the costs incurred from importing the encoded protein into the organelle where it can provide its function. Finally, we show that the net energy saved by endosymbiotic gene transfer can constitute an appreciable proportion of total cellular energy budgets and is therefore sufficient to impart a selectable advantage to the cell. Conclusion Thus, reduced cellular cost and improved energy efficiency likely played a role in the reductive evolution of mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes and the transfer of organellar genes to the nuclear genome.

scholarly journals Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer in Tertiary Plastid-Containing Dinoflagellates

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Burki ◽  
Behzad Imanian ◽  
Elisabeth Hehenberger ◽  
Yoshihisa Hirakawa ◽  
Shinichiro Maruyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Host Genome ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Transcriptome Data ◽  
Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Host Nucleus ◽  
Endosymbiotic Origin

ABSTRACTPlastid establishment involves the transfer of endosymbiotic genes to the host nucleus, a process known as endosymbiotic gene transfer (EGT). Large amounts of EGT have been shown in several photosynthetic lineages but also in present-day plastid-lacking organisms, supporting the notion that endosymbiotic genes leave a substantial genetic footprint in the host nucleus. Yet the extent of this genetic relocation remains debated, largely because the long period that has passed since most plastids originated has erased many of the clues to how this process unfolded. Among the dinoflagellates, however, the ancestral peridinin-containing plastid has been replaced by tertiary plastids on several more recent occasions, giving us a less ancient window to examine plastid origins. In this study, we evaluated the endosymbiotic contribution to the host genome in two dinoflagellate lineages with tertiary plastids. We generated the first nuclear transcriptome data sets for the “dinotoms,” which harbor diatom-derived plastids, and analyzed these data in combination with the available transcriptomes for kareniaceans, which harbor haptophyte-derived plastids. We found low level of detectable EGT in both dinoflagellate lineages, with only 9 genes and 90 genes of possible tertiary endosymbiotic origin in dinotoms and kareniaceans, respectively, suggesting that tertiary endosymbioses did not heavily impact the host dinoflagellate genomes.

Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer

2002 ◽  
pp. 351-XII ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Henze ◽  
William Martin ◽  
Claus Schnarrenberger
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer

scholarly journals Endosymbiotic gene transfer from prokaryotic pangenomes: Inherited chimerism in eukaryotes

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (33) ◽  
pp. 10139-10146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuan Ku ◽  
Shijulal Nelson-Sathi ◽  
Mayo Roettger ◽  
Sriram Garg ◽  
Einat Hazkani-Covo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Gene Tree ◽  
Eukaryotic Cell ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Gene Trees ◽  
Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer ◽  
Evolutionary Innovation ◽  
Eukaryotic Genes ◽  
A Genome

Endosymbiotic theory in eukaryotic-cell evolution rests upon a foundation of three cornerstone partners—the plastid (a cyanobacterium), the mitochondrion (a proteobacterium), and its host (an archaeon)—and carries a corollary that, over time, the majority of genes once present in the organelle genomes were relinquished to the chromosomes of the host (endosymbiotic gene transfer). However, notwithstanding eukaryote-specific gene inventions, single-gene phylogenies have never traced eukaryotic genes to three single prokaryotic sources, an issue that hinges crucially upon factors influencing phylogenetic inference. In the age of genomes, single-gene trees, once used to test the predictions of endosymbiotic theory, now spawn new theories that stand to eventually replace endosymbiotic theory with descriptive, gene tree-based variants featuring supernumerary symbionts: prokaryotic partners distinct from the cornerstone trio and whose existence is inferred solely from single-gene trees. We reason that the endosymbiotic ancestors of mitochondria and chloroplasts brought into the eukaryotic—and plant and algal—lineage a genome-sized sample of genes from the proteobacterial and cyanobacterial pangenomes of their respective day and that, even if molecular phylogeny were artifact-free, sampling prokaryotic pangenomes through endosymbiotic gene transfer would lead to inherited chimerism. Recombination in prokaryotes (transduction, conjugation, transformation) differs from recombination in eukaryotes (sex). Prokaryotic recombination leads to pangenomes, and eukaryotic recombination leads to vertical inheritance. Viewed from the perspective of endosymbiotic theory, the critical transition at the eukaryote origin that allowed escape from Muller’s ratchet—the origin of eukaryotic recombination, or sex—might have required surprisingly little evolutionary innovation.

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