Stability-activity tradeoffs constrain the adaptive evolution of RubisCO.

ABSTRACT: A well-known case of evolutionary adaptation is that of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RubisCO), the enzyme responsible for fixation of CO2 during photosynthesis. Although the majority of plants use the ancestral C3 photosynthetic pathway, many flowering plants have evolved a derived pathway named C4 photosynthesis. The latter concentrates CO2, and C4 RubisCOs consequently have lower specificity for, and faster turnover of, CO2. The C4 forms result from convergent evolution in multiple clades, with substitutions at a small number of sites under positive selection. To understand the physical constraints on these evolutionary changes, we reconstructed in silico ancestral sequences and 3D structures of RubisCO from a large group of related C3 and C4 species. We were able to precisely

SUBMITTER: Studer RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3926066 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature