Abstract
Investigating the phylogenetic relationships within physiologically essential gene families across a broad range of taxa can reveal the key gene duplication events underlying their family expansion and is thus important to functional genomics studies. P-Type II ATPases represent a large family of ATP powered transporters that move ions across cellular membranes and includes Na+/K+ transporters, H+/K+ transporters, and plasma membrane Ca2+ pumps. Here, we examine the evolutionary history of one such transporter, the Sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA), which maintains calcium homeostasis in the cell by actively pumping Ca2+ into the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum. Our protein-based phylogenetic analyses across Eukaryotes revealed two monophyletic clades of SERCA proteins, one containing animals, fungi, and plants, and the other consisting of plants and protists. Our analyses suggest that the three known SERCA proteins in vertebrates arose through two major gene duplication events after the divergence from tunicates, but before the separation of fishes and tetrapods. In plants, we recovered two SERCA clades, one being the sister group to Metazoa and the other to Apicomplexa clade, suggesting an ancient duplication in an early eukaryotic ancestor, followed by subsequent loss of one copy in Opisthokonta, the other in protists, and retention of both in plants. We also report relatively recent and independent gene duplication events within invertebrate taxa including tunicates and the leech Helobdella robusta. Thus, it appears that both ancient and recent gene duplication events have played an important role in the evolution of this ubiquitous gene family across the eukaryotic domain.
Highlights
A clear understanding of the evolutionary history of gene families is essential for studying their function, expression, and the evolutionary forces responsible for their diversification
This study focuses on investigating the key evolutionary events that have led to the extensive diversification of sarco(endo)plasmic calcium ATPases (SERCA) across the major domains of eukaryotes
Overall Phylogenetic Pattern The Sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) alignment consisted of 81 sequences (61 unique taxa) spanning 1575 amino acids and contained 220 conserved and 818 parsimony-informative sites
Summary
A clear understanding of the evolutionary history of gene families is essential for studying their function, expression, and the evolutionary forces responsible for their diversification. The availability of many sequenced genomes greatly facilitates the investigation of the evolutionary history of many environmentally relevant gene families, such as the P-type II ATPases. This family of cation transporters plays a key role in the adaptation of organisms to variable environments, including variation in cation concentrations, due to their shared specificities for Ca2+, K+ and Na+ [1]. This study focuses on investigating the key evolutionary events that have led to the extensive diversification of sarco(endo)plasmic calcium ATPases (SERCA) across the major domains of eukaryotes
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