Evolutionary changes reflected by the cellular amino acid composition.

Abstract

Comparison of the amino acid composition of cell-proteins using 17 amino acids has been used to investigate the biological evolution of organisms such as bacteria, blue-green alga, green alga, fungi, slime mold, protozoa and vertebrates. The degree of difference in the amino acid ratios between any two groups reflects the degree of divergency in biological evolution. The amino acid composition of the Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, and Vibrio alginolyticus) was identical. However, the amino acid composition of Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis, which are Gram-positive bacteria, differed from each other and from the Gram-negative bacteria. The amino acid composition of the blue-green alga (Cyanobacterium, Chroococidiopsis) was quite similar to that of E. coli. A marked difference in the amino acid composition was observed between E. coli and green alga (Chlorella), and significant differences were observed between E. coli and other organisms, such as fungi, protozoa (Tetrahymena), slime mold (Dictyostelium discoideum) and vertebrates. In conclusion, the change in cellular amino acid composition reflects the divergence which has occurred during biological evolution, whereas a basic pattern of amino acid composition is maintained in spite of a long period of evolutional divergence among the various organisms. Thus, it is proposed that the primitive life forms established at the end of prebiotic evolution had a similar amino acid composition.