Evolution of Archaellum Rotation Involved Invention of a Stator Complex by Duplicating and Modifying a Core Component.

ABSTRACT: Novelty in biology can arise from opportunistic repurposing of nascent characteristics of existing features. Understanding how this process happens at the molecular scale, however, suffers from a lack of case studies. The evolutionary emergence of rotary motors is a particularly clear example of evolution of a new function. The simplest of rotary motors is the archaellum, a molecular motor that spins a helical propeller for archaeal motility analogous to the bacterial flagellum. Curiously, emergence of archaellar rotation may have pivoted on the simple duplication and repurposing of a pre-existing component to produce a stator complex that anchors to the cell superstructure to enable productive rotation of the rotor component. This putative stator complex is composed of ArlF and ArlG, gene

SUBMITTER: Umrekar TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8667602 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature