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Phylogenetic Analysis and Molecular Evolution of Guanine Deaminases: From Guanine to Dendrites

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Abstract

Guanine deaminase (GDA; guanase) is a ubiquitous enzyme that catalyzes the first step of purine metabolism by hydrolytic deamination of guanine, resulting in the production of xanthine. This hydrolase subfamily member plays an essential role in maintaining homeostasis of cellular triphosphate nucleotides for energy, signal transduction pathways, and nitrogen sources. In mammals, GDA protein levels can play a role in neuronal development by regulating dendritic arborization. We previously demonstrated that the most abundant alternative splice form of GDA in mammals, termed cypin (cytosolic PSD-95 interactor), interacts with postsynaptic density proteins, regulates microtubule polymerization, and increases dendrite number. Since purine metabolism and dendrite development were previously thought to be independent cellular processes, this multifunctional protein serves as a new target for the treatment of cognitive disorders characterized by aberrant neuronal morphology and purine metabolism. Although the enzymatic activity of GDA has been conserved during evolution from prokaryotes to higher eukaryotes, a detailed evolutionary assessment of the principal domains in GDA proteins has not yet been put forward. In this study, we perform a complete evolutionary analysis of the full-length sequences and the principal domains in guanine deaminases. Furthermore, we reconstruct the molecular phylogeny of guanine deaminases with neighbor-joining, maximum-likelihood, and UPGMA methods of phylogenetic inference. This study can act as a model whereby a universal housekeeping enzyme may be adapted to act also as a key regulator of a developmental process.

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Acknowledgments

J.R.F. is a graduate trainee of the IGERT Program on Integratively Engineered Biointerfaces at Rutgers, under NSF Grant DGE-0333196. This work was supported in part by a Johnson and Johnson Discovery Grant, a New Jersey Governor’s Council on Autism Pilot Grant, National Science Foundation Grants IBN-0234206 and IBN-0548543, and March of Dimes Foundation Grant 1-FY04-107 (to B.L.F). We thank Dr. Chi-hua Chiu for comments on and critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Nelson Biological Laboratories, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854-8082, USA

    José R. Fernández & Bonnie L. Firestein

  2. The Informatics Institute of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA

    José R. Fernández & Bruce Byrne

Authors
  1. José R. Fernández
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  2. Bruce Byrne
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  3. Bonnie L. Firestein
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Correspondence to Bonnie L. Firestein.

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Fernández, J.R., Byrne, B. & Firestein, B.L. Phylogenetic Analysis and Molecular Evolution of Guanine Deaminases: From Guanine to Dendrites. J Mol Evol 68, 227–235 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-009-9205-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-009-9205-x

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