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Enzyme sub‐functionalization driven by regulation
Author(s) -
Loo Bert,
BornbergBauer Erich
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.15252/embr.201744383
Subject(s) - bacillus subtilis , biology , gene duplication , functional divergence , gene , enzyme , molecular evolution , transcriptional regulation , divergence (linguistics) , directed evolution , computational biology , pleiotropy , genetics , evolutionary biology , gene expression , biochemistry , phenotype , gene family , phylogenetics , bacteria , philosophy , linguistics , mutant
The emergence of functional novelties during protein evolution has puzzled scientists for many years. Most proposed models focus on repeated duplication‐divergence cycles, but the entanglement of selection pressures acting on the control of transcriptional and enzymatic activity, for example, by metabolites, has not been addressed so far. In this issue of EMBO Reports , Noda‐Garcia et al [1][Noda‐Garcia L, 2017] describe two glutamate dehydrogenase paralogs from Bacillus subtilis with very similar sequences and under two distinct modes of activity control. The functional divergence of these two enzymes during evolution is driven by an interlinked combination of differences between their enzymatic properties and their transcriptional regulation. This article thus illuminates another level of complexity in molecular evolution that may help understand the hitherto unexplained co‐existence of paralogous genes that at first sight appear to be functionally redundant.