Diversity and Evolution of Coral Fluorescent Proteins
By Jason Heller, July 17, 2008 @ 02:00 AM (EST)
Source: Plosone.org
GFP-like fluorescent proteins (FPs) are the key color determinants in
reef-building corals (class Anthozoa, order Scleractinia) and are of
considerable interest as potential genetically encoded fluorescent
labels.
Here we report 40 additional members of the GFP family from
corals. There are three major paralogous lineages of coral FPs. One of
them is retained in all sampled coral families and is responsible for
the non-fluorescent purple-blue color, while each of the other two
evolved a full complement of typical coral fluorescent colors (cyan,
green, and red) and underwent sorting between coral groups. Among the
newly cloned proteins are a “chromo-red” color type from Echinopora forskaliana (family Faviidae) and pink chromoprotein from Styloph
ora pistillata
(Pocilloporidae), both evolving independently from the rest of coral
chromoproteins. There are several cyan FPs that possess a novel kind of
excitation spectrum indicating a neutral chromophore ground state, for
which the residue E167 is responsible (numeration according to GFP from
A. victoria). The chromoprotein from Acropora millepora
is an unusual blue instead of purple, which is due to two mutations:
S64C and S183T. We applied a novel probabilistic sampling approach to
recreate the common ancestor of all coral FPs as well as the more
derived common ancestor of three main fluorescent colors of the Faviina
suborder. Both proteins were green such as found elsewhere outside
class Anthozoa. Interestingly, a substantial fraction of the all-coral
ancestral protein had a chromohore apparently locked in a
non-fluorescent neutral state, which may reflect the transitional stage
that enabled rapid color diversification early in the history of coral
FPs. Our results highlight the extent of convergent or parallel
evolution of the color diversity in corals, provide the foundation for
experimental studies of evolutionary processes that led to color
diversification, and enable a comparative analysis of structural
determinants of different colors...
ora pistillata
(Pocilloporidae), both evolving independently from the rest of coral
chromoproteins. There are several cyan FPs that possess a novel kind of
excitation spectrum indicating a neutral chromophore ground state, for
which the residue E167 is responsible (numeration according to GFP from
A. victoria). The chromoprotein from Acropora millepora
is an unusual blue instead of purple, which is due to two mutations:
S64C and S183T. We applied a novel probabilistic sampling approach to
recreate the common ancestor of all coral FPs as well as the more
derived common ancestor of three main fluorescent colors of the Faviina
suborder. Both proteins were green such as found elsewhere outside
class Anthozoa. Interestingly, a substantial fraction of the all-coral
ancestral protein had a chromohore apparently locked in a
non-fluorescent neutral state, which may reflect the transitional stage
that enabled rapid color diversification early in the history of coral
FPs. Our results highlight the extent of convergent or parallel
evolution of the color diversity in corals, provide the foundation for
experimental studies of evolutionary processes that led to color
diversification, and enable a comparative analysis of structural
determinants of different colors...
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