Dataset Information

Diversity and Functional Evolution of Terpene Synthases in Dictyostelid Social Amoebae.

ABSTRACT: Dictyostelids, or social amoebae, have a unique life style in forming multicellular fruiting bodies from unicellular amoeboids upon starvation. Recently, dictyostelids were found to contain terpene synthase (TPS) genes, a gene type of secondary metabolism previously known to occur only in plants, fungi and bacteria. Here we report an evolutionary functional study of dictyostelid TPS genes. The number of TPS genes in six species of dictyostelids examined ranges from 1 to 19; and the model species Dictyostelium purpureum contains 12 genes. Using in vitro enzyme assays, the 12 TPS genes from D. purpureum were shown to encode functional enzymes with distinct product profiles. The expression of the 12 TPS genes in D. purpureum is developmentally regulated. During multicellular development, D. purpureum releases a mixture of volatile terpenes dominated by sesquiterpenes that are the in vitro products of a subset of the 12 TPS genes. The quality and quantity of the terpenes released from D. purpureum, however, bear little resemblance to those of D. discoideum, a closely related dictyostelid. Despite these variations, the conserved clade of dictyostelid TPSs, which have an evolutionary distance of more than 600 million years, has the same biochemical function, catalyzing the formation of a sesquiterpene protoillud-7-ene. Taken together, our results indicate that the dynamic evolution of dictyostelid TPS genes includes both purifying selection of an orthologous group and species-specific expansion with functional divergence. Consequently, the terpenes produced by these TPSs most likely have conserved as well as species-adaptive biological functions as chemical languages in dictyostelids.

SUBMITTER: Chen X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6156593 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Diversity and Functional Evolution of Terpene Synthases in Dictyostelid Social Amoebae.

Chen Xinlu X Köllner Tobias G TG Shaulsky Gad G Jia Qidong Q Dickschat Jeroen S JS Gershenzon Jonathan J Chen Feng F

Scientific reports 20180925 1

Dictyostelids, or social amoebae, have a unique life style in forming multicellular fruiting bodies from unicellular amoeboids upon starvation. Recently, dictyostelids were found to contain terpene synthase (TPS) genes, a gene type of secondary metabolism previously known to occur only in plants, fungi and bacteria. Here we report an evolutionary functional study of dictyostelid TPS genes. The number of TPS genes in six species of dictyostelids examined ranges from 1 to 19; and the model species ...[more]

PMID: 30254228

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Project description:Terpenes are organic compounds and play important roles in plant development and stress response. Terpene synthases (TPSs) are the key enzymes for the biosynthesis of terpenes. For Rosaceae species, terpene composition represents a critical quality attribute, but limited information is available regarding the evolution and expansion occurring in the terpene synthases gene family. Here, we selected eight Rosaceae species with sequenced and annotated genomes for the identification of TPSs, including three Prunoideae, three Maloideae, and two Rosoideae species. Our data showed that the TPS gene family in the Rosaceae species displayed a diversity of family numbers and functions among different subfamilies. Lineage and species-specific expansion of the TPSs accompanied by frequent domain loss was widely observed within different TPS clades, which might have contributed to speciation or environmental adaptation in Rosaceae. In contrast to Maloideae and Rosoideae species, Prunoideae species owned less TPSs, with the evolution of Prunoideae species, TPSs were expanded in modern peach. Both tandem and segmental duplication significantly contributed to TPSs expansion. Ka/Ks calculations revealed that TPSs genes mainly evolved under purifying selection except for several pairs, where the divergent time indicated TPS-e clade was diverged relatively anciently. Gene function classification of TPSs further demonstrated the function diversity among clades and species. Moreover, based on already published RNA-Seq data from NCBI, the expression of most TPSs in Malus domestica, Prunus persica, and Fragaria vesca displayed tissue specificity and distinct expression patterns either in tissues or expression abundance between species and TPS clades. Certain putative TPS-like proteins lacking both domains were detected to be highly expressed, indicating the underlying functional or regulatory potentials. The result provided insight into the TPS family evolution and genetic information that would help to improve Rosaceae species quality.

Dataset Information

Diversity and Functional Evolution of Terpene Synthases in Dictyostelid Social Amoebae.

Publications

Diversity and Functional Evolution of Terpene Synthases in Dictyostelid Social Amoebae.

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