The Symbiontic Nature of Metabolic Evolution

2005 ◽  
pp. 159-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. L. M. Kooijman ◽  
R. Hengeveld
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Evolution

Long-term metabolic evolution of a cohort of patients treated for adrenal insufficiency

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moutarde Coralie ◽  
Douillard Claire ◽  
Bauters Catherine ◽  
Cortet Christine ◽  
Do Cao Christine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adrenal Insufficiency ◽  
Metabolic Evolution

scholarly journals Metabolic evolution and the self-organization of ecosystems

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (15) ◽  
pp. E3091-E3100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogier Braakman ◽  
Michael J. Follows ◽  
Sallie W. Chisholm
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Light Adaptation ◽  
Atmospheric Oxygen ◽  
Heterotrophic Bacterium ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
Mathematical Framework ◽  
Metabolic Evolution

Metabolism mediates the flow of matter and energy through the biosphere. We examined how metabolic evolution shapes ecosystems by reconstructing it in the globally abundant oceanic phytoplankterProchlorococcus. To understand what drove observed evolutionary patterns, we interpreted them in the context of its population dynamics, growth rate, and light adaptation, and the size and macromolecular and elemental composition of cells. This multilevel view suggests that, over the course of evolution, there was a steady increase inProchlorococcus’ metabolic rate and excretion of organic carbon. We derived a mathematical framework that suggests these adaptations lower the minimal subsistence nutrient concentration of cells, which results in a drawdown of nutrients in oceanic surface waters. This, in turn, increases total ecosystem biomass and promotes the coevolution of all cells in the ecosystem. Additional reconstructions suggest thatProchlorococcusand the dominant cooccurring heterotrophic bacterium SAR11 form a coevolved mutualism that maximizes their collective metabolic rate by recycling organic carbon through complementary excretion and uptake pathways. Moreover, the metabolic codependencies ofProchlorococcusand SAR11 are highly similar to those of chloroplasts and mitochondria within plant cells. These observations lead us to propose a general theory relating metabolic evolution to the self-amplification and self-organization of the biosphere. We discuss the implications of this framework for the evolution of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles and the rise of atmospheric oxygen.

scholarly journals In Silico Evolution of Early Metabolism

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ullrich ◽  
Markus Rohrschneider ◽  
Gerik Scheuermann ◽  
Peter F. Stadler ◽  
Christoph Flamm
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Genetic System ◽  
Simulation Tool ◽  
Metabolic Evolution ◽  
Metabolic System ◽  
Evolution Of Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Core Set ◽  
Catalytically Active ◽  
Almost Open ◽  
In Silico Evolution

We developed a simulation tool for investigating the evolution of early metabolism, allowing us to speculate on the formation of metabolic pathways from catalyzed chemical reactions and on the development of their characteristic properties. Our model consists of a protocellular entity with a simple RNA-based genetic system and an evolving metabolism of catalytically active ribozymes that manipulate a rich underlying chemistry. Ensuring an almost open-ended and fairly realistic simulation is crucial for understanding the first steps in metabolic evolution. We show here how our simulation tool can be helpful in arguing for or against hypotheses on the evolution of metabolic pathways. We demonstrate that seemingly mutually exclusive hypotheses may well be compatible when we take into account that different processes dominate different phases in the evolution of a metabolic system. Our results suggest that forward evolution shapes metabolic network in the very early steps of evolution. In later and more complex stages, enzyme recruitment supersedes forward evolution, keeping a core set of pathways from the early phase.

Prediction of horizontal gene transfers in eukaryotes: approaches and challenges

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 792-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Whitaker ◽  
Glenn A. McConkey ◽  
David R. Westhead
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Present Review ◽  
Bacterial Evolution ◽  
Eukaryotic Evolution ◽  
Metabolic Evolution ◽  
Eukaryotic Genomes

HGT (horizontal gene transfer) is recognized as an important force in bacterial evolution. Now that many eukaryotic genomes have been sequenced, it has become possible to carry out studies of HGT in eukaryotes. The present review compares the different approaches that exist for identifying HGT genes and assess them in the context of studying eukaryotic evolution. The metabolic evolution resource metaTIGER is then described, with discussion of its application in identification of HGT in eukaryotes.

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