Radiation of nitrogen-metabolizing enzymes across the tree of life tracks environmental transitions in Earth history.

ABSTRACT: Nitrogen is an essential element to life and exerts a strong control on global biological productivity. The rise and spread of nitrogen-utilizing microbial metabolisms profoundly shaped the biosphere on the early Earth. Here, we reconciled gene and species trees to identify birth and horizontal gene transfer events for key nitrogen-cycling genes, dated with a time-calibrated tree of life, in order to examine the timing of the proliferation of these metabolisms across the tree of life. Our results provide new insights into the evolution of the early nitrogen cycle that expand on geochemical reconstructions. We observed widespread horizontal gene transfer of molybdenum-based nitrogenase back to the Archean, minor horizontal transfer of genes for nitrate reduction in the Archean, and an incre

SUBMITTER: Parsons C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7894544 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature