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Main Authors: Pérez Gallego, Ruth, von Meijenfeldt, F A Bastiaan, Bale, Nicole J, Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S, Villanueva, Laura
Format: Artículo científico
Language:en
Published: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2025
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Online Access:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39869795/
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author Pérez Gallego, Ruth
von Meijenfeldt, F A Bastiaan
Bale, Nicole J
Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S
Villanueva, Laura
author_facet Pérez Gallego, Ruth
von Meijenfeldt, F A Bastiaan
Bale, Nicole J
Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S
Villanueva, Laura
Pérez Gallego, Ruth
von Meijenfeldt, F A Bastiaan
Bale, Nicole J
Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S
Villanueva, Laura
collection PubMed - marine biology
contents Emergence and evolution of heterocyte glycolipid biosynthesis enabled specialized nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria. Pérez Gallego, Ruth von Meijenfeldt, F A Bastiaan Bale, Nicole J Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S Villanueva, Laura Nitrogen Fixation Cyanobacteria Glycolipids Phylogeny Biological Evolution Evolution, Molecular Multigene Family Heterocytes, specialized cells for nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria, are surrounded by heterocyte glycolipids (HGs), which contribute to protection of the nitrogenase enzyme from oxygen. Diverse HGs preserve in the sediment and have been widely used as evidence of past nitrogen fixation, and structural variation has been suggested to preserve taxonomic information and reflect paleoenvironmental conditions. Here, by comprehensive HG identification and screening of HG biosynthetic gene clusters throughout cyanobacteria, we reconstruct the convergent evolutionary history of HG structure, in which different clades produce the same HGs. We find that rudimentary HG biosynthetic machinery was already present in cyanobacteria before the emergence of heterocytes for functions unrelated to nitrogen fixation and identify HG analogs produced by specific and distantly related nonheterocytous cyanobacteria. These structurally less complex molecules represent precursors of HGs, suggesting that HGs arose after a genomic reorganization and expansion of ancestral biosynthetic machinery, enabling the rise of cyanobacterial heterocytes in an increasingly oxygenated atmosphere. Our results open a chapter in the potential use of diagenetic products of HGs and HG analogs as fossils for reconstructing the evolution of multicellularity and division of labor in cyanobacteria.
format Artículo científico
id pubmed_39869795
institution PubMed
language en
publishDate 2025
publisher Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
record_format pubmed
spellingShingle Emergence and evolution of heterocyte glycolipid biosynthesis enabled specialized nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria.
Pérez Gallego, Ruth
von Meijenfeldt, F A Bastiaan
Bale, Nicole J
Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S
Villanueva, Laura
Nitrogen Fixation
Cyanobacteria
Glycolipids
Phylogeny
Biological Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Multigene Family
Emergence and evolution of heterocyte glycolipid biosynthesis enabled specialized nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria. Pérez Gallego, Ruth von Meijenfeldt, F A Bastiaan Bale, Nicole J Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S Villanueva, Laura Nitrogen Fixation Cyanobacteria Glycolipids Phylogeny Biological Evolution Evolution, Molecular Multigene Family Heterocytes, specialized cells for nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria, are surrounded by heterocyte glycolipids (HGs), which contribute to protection of the nitrogenase enzyme from oxygen. Diverse HGs preserve in the sediment and have been widely used as evidence of past nitrogen fixation, and structural variation has been suggested to preserve taxonomic information and reflect paleoenvironmental conditions. Here, by comprehensive HG identification and screening of HG biosynthetic gene clusters throughout cyanobacteria, we reconstruct the convergent evolutionary history of HG structure, in which different clades produce the same HGs. We find that rudimentary HG biosynthetic machinery was already present in cyanobacteria before the emergence of heterocytes for functions unrelated to nitrogen fixation and identify HG analogs produced by specific and distantly related nonheterocytous cyanobacteria. These structurally less complex molecules represent precursors of HGs, suggesting that HGs arose after a genomic reorganization and expansion of ancestral biosynthetic machinery, enabling the rise of cyanobacterial heterocytes in an increasingly oxygenated atmosphere. Our results open a chapter in the potential use of diagenetic products of HGs and HG analogs as fossils for reconstructing the evolution of multicellularity and division of labor in cyanobacteria.
title Emergence and evolution of heterocyte glycolipid biosynthesis enabled specialized nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria.
topic Nitrogen Fixation
Cyanobacteria
Glycolipids
Phylogeny
Biological Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Multigene Family
url https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39869795/