Comparative genomic analyses reveal a vast, novel network of nucleotide-centric systems in biological conflicts, immunity and signaling.

ABSTRACT: Cyclic di- and linear oligo-nucleotide signals activate defenses against invasive nucleic acids in animal immunity; however, their evolutionary antecedents are poorly understood. Using comparative genomics, sequence and structure analysis, we uncovered a vast network of systems defined by conserved prokaryotic gene-neighborhoods, which encode enzymes generating such nucleotides or alternatively processing them to yield potential signaling molecules. The nucleotide-generating enzymes include several clades of the DNA-polymerase β-like superfamily (including Vibrio cholerae DncV), a minimal version of the CRISPR polymerase and DisA-like cyclic-di-AMP synthetases. Nucleotide-binding/processing domains include TIR domains and members of a superfamily prototyped by Smf/DprA proteins and base (c

SUBMITTER: Burroughs AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4678834 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature