Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-x5cpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T14:29:35.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Central Metabolic Pathways of Hyperthermophiles: Important Clues on how Metabolism Gives Rise to Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

R. S. Ronimus  and
H. W. Morgan
R. S. Ronimus
Affiliation:
Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, New Zealand (Communicating author: ronimus@waikato.ac.nz)
H. W. Morgan
Affiliation:
Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, New Zealand (Communicating author: ronimus@waikato.ac.nz)

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Vital clues on life's origins within the galaxy exist here on present day Earth. Life is currently divided into the three domains Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya based on the phylogeny of small ribosomal subunit RNA (16S/18S) gene sequences. The domains are presumed to share a “last universal common ancestor” (LUCA). Hyperthermophilic bacteria and archaea, which are able to thrive at 80°C or higher, dominate the bottom of the tree of life and are thus suggested to be the least evolved, or most “ancient”. Geochemical data indicates that life first appeared on Earth approximately 3.8 billion years ago in a hot environment. Due to these considerations, hyperthermophiles represent the most appropriate microorganisms to investigate the origins of metabolism. The central biochemical pathway of gluconeogenesis/glycolysis (the Embden-Meyerhof pathway) which produces six carbon sugars from three carbon compounds is present in all organisms and can provide important hints concerning the early development of metabolism. Significantly, there are a number of striking deviations from the textbook canonical reaction sequence that are found, particularly in hyperthermophilic archaea. In this paper the phylogenetic istribution of enzymes of the pathway is detailed; overall, the distribution pattern provides strong evidence for the pathway to have developed from the bottom-up.

Type
Archaea
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 367 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

References

Altschul, S. F., Madden, T. L., Schäffer, A. A., Zhang, Z., Miller, W., & Lipman, D. J. 1997, Nucl. Acids Res., 25, 3389 Google Scholar
Amend, J. P., & Shock, E. L. 2001, FEMS Microbiol. Rev., 25, 175 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baross, J. A. 1998, in Thermophiles: the keys to molecular evolution and the origin of life?, ed. Wiegel, J. & Adams, M. W. W., (USA: Taylor and Francis Philadelphia), 3 Google Scholar
Feng, D-F., Cho, G., & Doolittle, R. F. 1997, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 94, 13028 Google Scholar
Fothergill-Gilmore, L. A. 1986, Trends Biochem. Sci., 11, 47 Google Scholar
Galperin, M. Y., Aravind, L., & Koonin, E. V. 2000, FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 183, 259 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maden, B. E. H. 1995, Trends Biochem. Sci., 20, 337 Google Scholar
Madigan, M. T., Martinko, J. M., & Parker, J. 2000, Brock: biology of microorganisms, (New Jersey: Prentice Hall International)Google Scholar
Orgel, L. E. 1998, Trends Biochem. Sci., 23, 491 Google Scholar
Reysenbach, A. L., & Shock, E. 2002, Science, 296, 1077 Google Scholar
Ronimus, R. S., & Morgan, H. W. 2001, Extremophiles, 5, 357 Google Scholar
Ronimus, R. S., & Morgan, H. W. 2002 Archaea, 1, 1 Google Scholar
Schidlowski, M. 1988, Nature, 333, 313 Google Scholar
Schopf, J. W., Kudryavtsev, A. B., Agresti, D. G., Wdowiak, T. J., & Czaja, A. D. 2002, Nature, 416, 73 Google Scholar
Wächterhäuser, G. 1988, Microbiol. Rev., 52, 452 Google Scholar