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The structure and evolution of a/β barrel proteins
Author(s) -
Reardon Deirdre,
Farber Gregory K.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.9.7.7737457
Subject(s) - convergent evolution , most recent common ancestor , evolutionary biology , ancestor , molecular evolution , protein family , homology (biology) , barrel (horology) , divergence (linguistics) , biology , phylogenetics , genetics , gene , philosophy , history , linguistics , archaeology
Roughly 10% of all known enzyme structures have an α/β barrel domain. The members of this large family of proteins catalyze very different types of reactions. Such diversity of function has made this family a target for protein engineering. The evolutionary history of this family has been the subject of vigorous debate. In this paper, arguments are made to support the divergence of all members of this family from a common ancestor. Because of the lack of strong sequence homology, the ancestral molecule must be very old. A hypothesis concerning the relationship between chemical mechanism and evolutionary history is discussed. Evidence is presented to suggest that convergent molecular evolution occurs when there is only one energetically reasonable pathway for a chemical reaction.—Reardon, D., Farber, G. K. The structure and evolution of α/β barrel proteins. FASEB J. 9, 497–503 (1995)