Early Diversification of Membrane Intrinsic Proteins (MIPs) in Eukaryotes

Membrane intrinsic proteins (MIPs), including aquaporins (AQPs) and aquaglyceroporins (GLPs), form an ancient family of transporters for water and small solutes across biological membranes. The evolutionary history and functions of MIPs have been extensively studied in vertebrates and land plants, b...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Irisarri, Iker, Lorente Martínez, Héctor, Strassert, Jürgen F.H., Agorreta, Ainhoa, Zardoya, Rafael, San Mauro Martín, Diego, de Vries, Jan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/117608
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/117608
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:576
577.112
611.081.1
612.398
Aquaporin
Deep eukaryote evolution
Aquaglyceroporin
Last eukaryotic common ancestor
Water transport
Biología celular (Biología)
2407 Biología Celular
Descripción
Sumario:Membrane intrinsic proteins (MIPs), including aquaporins (AQPs) and aquaglyceroporins (GLPs), form an ancient family of transporters for water and small solutes across biological membranes. The evolutionary history and functions of MIPs have been extensively studied in vertebrates and land plants, but their widespread presence across the eukaryotic tree of life suggests both a more complex evolutionary history and a broader set of functions than previously thought. That said, the early evolution of MIPs remains obscure. The presence of one GLP and four AQP clades across both bacteria and archaea suggests that the first eukaryotes could have possessed up to five MIPs. Here, we report on a previously unknown richness in MIP diversity across all major eukaryotic lineages, including unicellular eukaryotes, which make up the bulk of eukaryotic diversity. Three MIP clades have likely deep evolutionary origins, dating back to the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA), and support the presence of a complex MIP repertoire in early eukaryotes. Overall, our findings highlight the growing complexity of the reconstructed LECA genome: the dynamic evolutionary history of MIPs was set in motion when eukaryotes were in their infancy followed by radiative bursts across all main eukaryotic lineages.