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An active second dihydrofolate reductase enzyme is not a feature of rat and mouse, but they do have activity in their mitochondria
Author(s) -
Hughes Linda,
Carton Robert,
Minguzzi Stefano,
McEntee Gráinne,
Deinum Eva E.,
O'Connell Mary J.,
Parle-McDermott Anne
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2015.05.017
Subject(s) - dihydrofolate reductase , enzyme , pseudogene , biology , mitochondrion , phylogenetic tree , reductase , biochemistry , gene , genome
The identification of a second functional dihydrofolate reductase enzyme in humans, DHFRL1, led us to consider whether this is also a feature of rodents. We demonstrate that dihydrofolate reductase activity is also a feature of the mitochondria in both rat and mouse but this is not due to a second enzyme. While our phylogenetic analysis revealed that RNA‐mediated DHFR duplication events did occur across the mammal tree, the duplicates in brown rat and mouse are likely to be processed pseudogenes. Humans have evolved the need for two separate enzymes while laboratory rats and mice have just one.