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PMID: 16227429 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Evolutionary conservation and diversification of Rh family genes and proteins.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 102 ·No. 43 ·2005-10-25 ·Pages 15512-7

Huang CH, Peng J

Abstract

Rhesus (Rh) proteins were first identified in human erythroid cells and recently in other tissues. Like ammonia transporter (Amt) proteins, their only homologues, Rh proteins have the 12 transmembrane-spanning segments characteristic of transporters. Many think Rh and Amt proteins transport the same substrate, NH(3)/NH(4)(+), whereas others think that Rh proteins transport CO(2) and Amt proteins NH(3). In the latter view, Rh and Amt are different biological gas channels. To reconstruct the phylogeny of the Rh family and study its coexistence with and relationship to Amt in depth, we analyzed 111 Rh genes and 260 Amt genes. Although Rh and Amt are found together in organisms as diverse as unicellular eukaryotes and sea squirts, Rh genes apparently arose later, because they are rare in prokaryotes. However, Rh genes are prominent in vertebrates, in which Amt genes disappear. In organisms with both types of genes, Rh had apparently diverged away from Amt rapidly and then evolved slowly over a long period. Functionally divergent amino acid sites are clustered in transmembrane segments and around the gas-conducting lumen recently identified in Escherichia coli AmtB, in agreement with Rh proteins having new substrate specificity. Despite gene duplications and mutations, the Rh paralogous groups all have apparently been subject to strong purifying selection indicating functional conservation. Genes encoding the classical Rh proteins in mammalian red cells show higher nucleotide substitution rates at nonsynonymous codon positions than other Rh genes, a finding that suggests a possible role for these proteins in red cell morphogenetic evolution.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Ammonia/metabolism Base Sequence Biological Evolution Carbon Dioxide/metabolism Cation Transport Proteins/analysis Molecular Sequence Data Multigene Family Rh-Hr Blood-Group System/analysis,chemistry,genetics
Chemicals
Cation Transport Proteins Rh-Hr Blood-Group System Carbon Dioxide Ammonia
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Huang Cheng-Han
Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, 310 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10021, USA. [email protected]
Peng Jianbin
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.0507886102
Email
[email protected]
Published
2005-10-25
Epub
2005-00-14
Pages
15512-7
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC1266151
Subset
IM
Grants
NHLBI NIH HHS · R01 HL066274 · United States
NICHD NIH HHS · HD 62704 · United States
NHLBI NIH HHS · HL 66274 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
AF398238, AF447925, AF510715, AF529360, AF531094, AF531095, AF531096, AF531097, AN198126, AN198127, AN198128, AY013262, AY116072, AY116073, AY116074, AY116075, AY116076, AY116077, AY129071, AY129072, AY129073, AY139091, AY207445, AY227357, AY271818, AY332758, AY340237, AY353246, AY353247, AY363116, AY363117, AY377923, AY455819, AY613958, AY613959, AY618933, AY618934, AY619986, AY622224, AY622225, AY831675, AY831676, AY831677, AY831678, AY865609, AY865610, AY865611, AY865612, AY865613, AY865614, AY865615, AY865616, AY865617, AY865618, DQ011226, DQ013062
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0507886102 PMC Full Text View journal details
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