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Evolution of the Dynein Heavy Chain Family in Ciliates
Author(s) -
Rajagopalan Vidyalakshmi,
Wilkes David E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/jeu.12245
Subject(s) - dynein , biology , tetrahymena , paramecium , ciliate , macronucleus , gene , genetics , phylogenetic tree , evolutionary biology , microbiology and biotechnology , microtubule
Dynein heavy chains are motor proteins that comprise a large gene family found across eukaryotes. We have investigated this gene family in four ciliate species: Ichthyophthirius , Oxytricha , Paramecium , and Tetrahymena . Ciliates appear to encode more dynein heavy chain genes than most eukaryotes. Phylogenetic comparisons demonstrated that the last common ancestor of the ciliates that were examined expressed at least 14 types of dynein heavy chains with most of the expansion coming from the single‐headed inner arm dyneins. Each of the dyneins most likely performed different functions within the cell.