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- Title
An ancient bacterial zinc acquisition system identified from a cyanobacterial exoproteome.
- Authors
Sarasa-Buisan, Cristina; Ochoa de Alda, Jesús A. G.; Velázquez-Suárez, Cristina; Rubio, Miguel Ángel; Gómez-Baena, Guadalupe; Fillat, María F.; Luque, Ignacio
- Abstract
Bacteria have developed fine-tuned responses to cope with potential zinc limitation. The Zur protein is a key player in coordinating this response in most species. Comparative proteomics conducted on the cyanobacterium Anabaena highlighted the more abundant proteins in a zur mutant compared to the wild type. Experimental evidence showed that the exoprotein ZepA mediates zinc uptake. Genomic context of the zepA gene and protein structure prediction provided additional insights on the regulation and putative function of ZepA homologs. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that ZepA represents a primordial system for zinc acquisition that has been conserved for billions of years in a handful of species from distant bacterial lineages. Furthermore, these results show that Zur may have been one of the first regulators of the FUR family to evolve, consistent with the scarcity of zinc in the ecosystems of the Archean eon. Bacteria have developed fine-tuned responses to cope with limiting amounts of the essential mineral zinc. This study reveals that a previously uncharacterized cyanobacterial exoprotein is a novel system for zinc acquisition that likely evolved in ancient bacteria and has been well conserved for billions of years.
- Subjects
PROTEIN structure prediction; ZINC; SEQUENCE alignment; MUTANT proteins
- Publication
PLoS Biology, 2024, Vol 22, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
1544-9173
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pbio.3002546