EXPLORATORY SEARCH STRATEGIES AND PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF FUSOGENIC PROTEINS IN EUKARYA

DAVID MOI; DANIELA MEGRIAN; HECTOR ROMERO; PABLO AGUILAR

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LI Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2015

SAIB

Fusogenic proteins are required for cell-cell fusion events to occur. In processes such as gamete fusion or the formation of polykaryotic cells, the merger of two lipid bilayers requires an input of energy to bring them into contact and distort them into high energy states before the two cells can fuse. The best characterized examples of these proteins belong to enveloped viruses which rely on fusogens to invade their cellular targets. Their structures fall into three distinct classes. All of the known eukaryotic fusogens have shown a high degree of homology with viral fusogens. In the case of syncytin for example, its molecular structure has been shown to be homologous to a class I viral fusogens, it has been shown to rescue fusogenic function in viruses and the multiple transfer events that lead to its presence in mammals have been studied. By using remote homology detection techniques to search for other viral fusogen homologues in eukariotic proteomes it may be possible to find the unknown fusogens and get a better picture of where these proteins came from. By combining these techniques with model generation and phylogenetic analysis it is possible to reconstruct the complex evolution of these proteins in the context of their structural homologues, the viral fusogens, all the way to their present state as the final gatekeepers of gamete merger during sexual reproduction.