The research group led by Masami Horikoshi, an associate professor at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the University of Tokyo, is thought to have been the center of the evolution from archaea to eukaryotic cells that occurred about 25 billion years ago. The mechanism of transformation was elucidated.
About 60 years ago, Pauling et al. Created a field called "molecular evolutionary chemistry" that predicts evolutionary transitions from DNA and protein sequences, but the DNA and proteins of ancient organisms billions of years ago are decomposed. It did not remain, and it was impossible to directly know the mechanism of evolution at the molecular level.
Therefore, the group focused on the repetitive sequences contained in DNA and proteins, and devised the world's first new analysis method that can calculate the difference between extant genes and ancestral genes generated in the process of evolution.Using this analysis, the group first revealed the evolution of archaea to eukaryotic cells that occurred about 25 billion years ago.Many transcription-related factors interact with eukaryotic TBP because mutations in the repeating sequence of TBP (TATA box-binding protein) that direct transcription initiation are highly conserved in eukaryotic cells. By doing so, it became clear that the complexity continued to increase.
By clarifying the mechanism of evolution that occurred in the ancient times, it is expected that various questions on molecular evolution that have not been solved until now can be clarified.
Paper information:[Cell Reports] Leading role of TBP in the establishment of complexity in eukaryotic transcription initiation systems
