Article
Ecology
Andrew J. Crapitto, Amy Campbell, A. J. Harris, Aaron D. Goldman
Summary: Comparing the consensus predictions of multiple studies can provide a more accurate depiction of the core proteome and functional repertoire of the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). These consensus predictions reveal some important functions of the LUCA genome.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biology
Joana C. Xavier, Rebecca E. Gerhards, Jessica L. E. Wimmer, Julia Brueckner, Fernando D. K. Tria, William F. Martin
Summary: Researchers reconstructed the habitat and lifestyle of the last bacterial common ancestor (LBCA) by analyzing 146 LCBA protein families, indicating that the LBCA was rod-shaped and the first lineage to diverge from the ancestral bacterial stem was most similar to modern Clostridia, followed by other autotrophs that harbor the acetyl-CoA pathway.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Gabriela de Carvalho Fernandes, Andreia Carina Turchetto-Zolet, Luciane Maria Pereira Passaglia
Summary: Glutamine synthetase (GS) is an essential enzyme in nitrogen assimilation. Studies have revealed that GS-encoding genes are among the oldest functioning genes and have a complex evolutionary history involving gene duplications and transfers. GS-encoding genes can be classified into three distinct groups, with the Type I family being the most diverse and including subgroups related to polyamine metabolism and noncatalytic GS homologs.
Article
Microbiology
Jessica L. E. Wimmer, Karl Kleinermanns, William F. Martin
Summary: Pyrophosphate (PPi) may not be an ancient energy currency in biological evolution, but rather an ancient mechanism that imparts irreversibility to the life process towards growth. The triphosphate moiety of ATP was chosen by nature as biochemistry's universal energy currency.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Jason C. Hyun, Bernhard O. Palsson
Summary: We constructed pangenomes for 183 bacterial species and reconstructed the core genome of the last bacterial common ancestor (LBCA) through integrating pangenomics and phylogenetics. The results showed that the gene content of modern and ancestral core genomes is diverse at the individual gene level but similarly distributed by functional category. The LBCA core genome has fundamental biological systems intact but likely requires additional non-core genes for viability.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Raphael R. Leonard, Eric Sauvage, Valerian Lupo, Amandine Perrin, Damien Sirjacobs, Paulette Charlier, Frederic Kerff, Denis Baurain
Summary: The nature of the last bacterial common ancestor and the characteristics of its cell wall are critical for understanding the evolution of life on Earth. Recent research suggests that all known bacteria may have evolved from a common ancestor with a monoderm cell wall structure, challenging the idea that the appearance of the outer membrane was a unique event.
Article
Microbiology
Mart Krupovic, Valerian V. Dolja, Eugene V. Koonin
Summary: All extant eukaryotes descend from LECA, the last eukaryotic common ancestor, which had complex cellular organization. To gain insight into LECA biology and the origin of eukaryotic cells, we reconstructed the LECA virome by compiling an inventory of eukaryotic hosts of major virus taxa and inferring the origins of these viruses. The LECA virome can be traced back to a small set of bacterial viruses, possibly due to the bacterial origin of eukaryotic membranes in a syntrophic model of eukaryogenesis involving two endosymbiosis events.
NATURE MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nicholas J. Matzke, Angela Lin, Micaella Stone, Matthew A. B. Baker
Summary: The study reports further evidence supporting the homology between proteins in the F1FO-ATP synthetase and the bacterial flagellar motor (BFM). By constructing a gene order dataset and comparing gene orders across different systems, the researchers found deeply conserved fliHIJ gene order, exactly matching the widely conserved F-ATPase gene order atpFHAG.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ryutaro Furukawa, Shin-ichi Yokobori, Riku Sato, Taimu Kumagawa, Mizuho Nakagawa, Kazutaka Katoh, Akihiko Yamagishi
Summary: This study generated a composite phylogenetic tree for seven aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) and predicted the ancestral ARS sequences and amino acid specificity before the evolution of the last universal common ancestor. The results showed that the ancestral ARSs had substantial amino acid specificity and that the number of amino acid types aminoacylated by proteinaceous ARSs was limited before the appearance of a fuller range of proteinaceous ARS species.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Brian Earl
Summary: Working memory (WM) and attention play crucial roles in generating behavior in the brain, facilitating flexible mental processes without necessarily requiring consciousness. These mechanisms are widespread among various animal species, such as humans, vertebrates, and arthropods, dating back to a common ancestor over 600 million years ago.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Jinlong Huang, Yi Zhong, Alvin P. Makohon-Moore, Travis White, Maria Jasin, Mark A. Norell, Ward C. Wheeler, Christine A. Iacobuzio-Donahue
Summary: We compared human and 12 non-human primates to identify sequence variations in known cancer genes. We found 395 human-specific fixed non-silent substitutions that emerged during human evolution. Functional analysis identified several substitutions predicted to alter protein function, including one located in the most evolutionarily conserved domain of human BRCA2.
Review
Zoology
Alexander Martynov, Tatiana A. Korshunova
Summary: The article provides a review of various theories regarding the last common bilaterian ancestor, proposing a sedentary-pelagic model to explain the evolution of LCBA, highlighting the significance of sedentary sponges in the evolutionary process of animals.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Nico Bremer, Fernando D. K. Tria, Josip Skejo, Sriram G. Garg, William F. Martin
Summary: Two main theories, phagotrophic engulfment and microbial symbiosis, have been proposed to explain the origin of mitochondria in eukaryotes. Through ancestral state reconstructions (ASR), it has been found that both phagocytosis and phagotrophy arose after the origin of mitochondria, and these traits have multiple origins across eukaryotes.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Review
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Steven N. Austad, Thomas W. Buford, David B. Allison, Scott. W. Ballinger, Andrew W. Brown, Christy S. Carter, Victor M. Darley-Usmar, John L. Hartman, Timothy R. Nagy, Daniel L. Smith, Liou Sun, Jianhua Zhang
Summary: The UAB Nathan Shock Center focuses on comparative energetics and aging, with a focus on the link between energetics and aging in terms of dysregulated mitochondrial function, altered metabolic signaling, and aberrant nutrient responsiveness with increasing age. The center offers world-class expertise in comprehensive energetic assessment and analysis, as well as state-of-the-art data analytics through its three research cores.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Satoshi Fukuchi, Tamotsu Noguchi, Hiroto Anbo, Keiichi Homma
Summary: This study found that longer internal exons tend to encode intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in eukaryotes. Based on this finding, the "small bang model" was proposed, suggesting that early eukaryotic genes lacked introns and mostly encoded single structural domains (SDs). However, through exon division and elongation, IDRs were acquired and eventually led to the last common ancestor of eukaryotes. This model explains the dichotomy between prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins and highlights the selective advantage conferred by IDRs.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Delfina P. Henriques Pereira, Jana Leethaus, Tugce Beyazay, Andrey do Nascimento Vieira, Karl Kleinermanns, Harun Tuysuz, William F. Martin, Martina Preiner
Summary: Hydrogen gas generated in serpentinizing hydrothermal systems has provided energy and electrons for microbial communities. Minerals in these systems may have acted as inorganic hydride donors. Experiments show that iron, cobalt, and nickel can reduce NAD(+) to biologically relevant form in the presence of hydrogen gas, indicating a possible role of these metals in the origin of metabolism.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Val Karavaeva, Filipa L. Sousa
Summary: In this study, a large-scale comparative genomic analysis was conducted to investigate the taxonomic distribution and phylogeny of succinate dehydrogenases and fumarate reductases. The findings suggest that structural classification and phylogeny are closely related for types C, D, and F, while types A, B, and E exhibit a more complex relationship, indicating the possibility of subgroup classification.
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tugce Beyazay, Kendra S. Belthle, Christophe Fares, Martina Preiner, Joseph Moran, William F. Martin, Harun Tueysuez
Summary: Recent investigations have shown that awaruite, a Ni3Fe alloy, can efficiently catalyze the conversion of CO2 to pyruvate, acetate, and formate, suggesting its role in microbial carbon metabolism.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Nico Bremer, Fernando D. K. Tria, Josip Skejo, William F. Martin
Summary: All eukaryotes have linear chromosomes distributed during mitotic division. However, the ancestral state of nuclear division in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) remains unknown. Ancestral state reconstructions suggest that LECA had closed orthomitosis with intranuclear spindles. This finding contributes to our understanding of LECA's lifestyle and adds to the list of cellular traits attributed to this enigmatic biological entity.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Daniel Andrade, Pedro Fonseca, Filipa Sousa, Manuel Gutierres
Summary: This study investigated the risk of valgus knee alignment movement on initial contact during landing in patients who underwent ACL reconstruction with a hamstring tendon autograft compared to those with a patellar tendon autograft and healthy individuals. Results showed that ACL reconstruction with a hamstring tendon autograft does not increase the risk of valgus knee alignment movement, but differences were found in various parameters between the reconstruction groups and healthy participants. Evaluating movement quality with a motion capture system and developing specialized rehabilitation programs may be necessary.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Sinje Neukirchen, Ines A. C. Pereira, Filipa L. Sousa
Summary: Microbial dissimilatory sulfur metabolism plays a significant role in Earth's biochemical sulfur cycle. Comparative genomics and phylogenetic analyses indicate an archaeal origin of the minimal DsrABCMK(N) protein set, with sulfite reduction as its primordial function. The acquisition of additional Dsr proteins increased the complexity of the Dsr pathway. Further discoveries of two types of Qmo complexes allowed microorganisms to use sulfate as an electron acceptor. Chlorobi and Proteobacteria evolved the ability to use the Dsr pathway for sulfur oxidation independently.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tugce Beyazay, William F. Martin, Harun Tuysuz
Summary: This study reports a method to convert CO2 and H2O into organic molecules formate and formamide using Ni-Fe nitride heterostructures under mild hydrothermal conditions, providing important clues for understanding premetabolic processes.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Goncalo Silva, Marcio Goethel, Leandro Machado, Filipa Sousa, Mario Jorge Costa, Pedro Magalhaes, Carlos Silva, Marta Midao, Andre Leite, Suse Couto, Ricardo Silva, Joao Paulo Vilas-Boas, Ricardo Jorge Fernandes
Summary: In this study, we investigated the acute recovery effects of using an intelligent sports legging embedded with an intelligent system for electrostimulation, localised heating, and compression. The results showed that the recovery methods provided by the sports legging did not effectively recover the torque values produced isometrically.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Natalia Mrnjavac, Jessica L. E. Wimmer, Max Brabender, Loraine Schwander, William F. Martin
Summary: The Moon-forming impact played a crucial role in the carbon cycle of Earth and the origin of life by converting carbon into accessible organic compounds. Primary producers rely on fixing CO2 as energy, which has a direct connection to the early Earth's CO2 rich atmosphere.
Review
Microbiology
Loraine Schwander, Max Brabender, Natalia Mrnjavac, Jessica L. E. Wimmer, Martina Preiner, William F. Martin
Summary: Serpentinization in hydrothermal vents is crucial for the origin of life as it produces compartments, reductants, catalysts, and gradients. It plays a key role in providing reduced carbon and energy sources for microbial metabolism. Therefore, serpentinization is important for understanding the origins of life.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Parth K. Raval, William F. Martin, Sven B. Gould
Summary: Genes for cardiolipin and ceramide synthesis are found in certain alphaproteobacterial genomes, providing insight into the origins of mitochondria and signaling in the first eukaryotic cells.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Liliana Pinho, Andreia S. P. Sousa, Claudia Silva, Christine Cunha, Rubim Santos, Joao Manuel R. S. Tavares, Soraia Pereira, Ana Rita Pinheiro, Jose Felix, Francisco Pinho, Filipa Sousa, Augusta Silva
Summary: This study aims to analyze the coactivation of antagonist muscles in the thigh and ankle in post-stroke subjects during the sit-to-stand task. The results show that the coactivation of ankle joint muscles in post-stroke subjects is more dysfunctional, indicating that the distal segment may more accurately reflect central nervous system dysfunction in post-stroke subjects.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)