Abstract
Polyamines are primordial polycations found in most cells and perform different functions in different organisms. Although polyamines are mainly known for their essential roles in cell growth and proliferation, their functions range from a critical role in cellular translation in eukaryotes and archaea, to bacterial biofilm formation and specialized roles in natural product biosynthesis. At first glance, the diversity of polyamine structures in different organisms appears chaotic; however, biosynthetic flexibility and evolutionary and ecological processes largely explain this heterogeneity. In this review, I discuss the biosynthetic, evolutionary, and physiological processes that constrain or expand polyamine structural and functional diversity.
Highlights
When considering the distribution of different polyamines in eukaryotes, it is worth considering two major factors
Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), AdoMetDC, and spermidine synthase (SpdSyn) are the universal pathway for spermidine biosynthesis in eukaryotes, and the pathway has been characterized in trypanosomes [16], Leishmania [17], Plasmodium falciparum [18], and filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa [19, 20], among others
Cad can be produced by an ODC that has evolved to recognize lysine as well as ornithine, and Hspd is produced by an enzyme that evolved from a gene duplication of gene encoding deoxyhypusine synthase (DHS) to form a DHS-like homospermidine synthase (HSS)
Summary
The diversity of polyamine structures in different organisms appears chaotic; biosynthetic flexibility and evolutionary and ecological processes largely explain this heterogeneity. I discuss the biosynthetic, evolutionary, and physiological processes that constrain or expand polyamine structural and functional diversity. The common feature of diverse polyamines found in eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea is that they are all derived from amino acids and are positively charged at physiological pH. They are mostly linear and flexible aliphatic chains containing two or more amine groups. Three domains of life and will discuss the mechanisms underlying this biosynthetic diversity
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