Lineage-specific expansions provide genomic complexity among sea urchin GTPases

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.08.046 Byline: Wendy S. Beane (a), Ekaterina Voronina (b), Gary M. Wessel (b), David R. McClay (a) Keywords: Ras GTPase; Rho; G protein; Galpha; Dynamin; SRP; Signal recognition particle receptor; Translation; Gene duplication; Phylogenomics; Echinoderm Abstract: In every organism, GTP-binding proteins control many aspects of cell signaling. Here, we examine in silico several GTPase families from the Strongylocentrotus purpuratus genome: the monomeric Ras superfamily, the heterotrimeric G proteins, the dynamin superfamily, the SRP/SR family, and the 'protein biosynthesis' translational GTPases. Identified were 174 GTPases, of which over 90% are expressed in the embryo as shown by tiling array and expressed sequence tag data. Phylogenomic comparisons restricted to Drosophila, Ciona, and humans (protostomes, urochordates, and vertebrates, respectively) revealed both common and unique elements in the expected composition of these families. G[alpha] and dynamin families contain vertebrate expansions, consistent with whole genome duplications, whereas SRP/SR and translational GTPases are highly conserved. Unexpectedly, Ras superfamily analyses revealed several large (5+) lineage-specific expansions in the sea urchin. For Rho, Rab, Arf, and Ras subfamilies, comparing total human gene numbers to the number of sea urchin genes with vertebrate orthologs suggests reduced genomic complexity in the sea urchin. However, gene duplications in the sea urchin increase overall numbers such that total sea urchin gene numbers approximate vertebrate gene numbers for each monomeric GTPase family. These findings suggest that lineage-specific expansions may be an important component of genomic evolution in signal transduction. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Biology, Developmental, Cell and Molecular Group, Duke University, Box 91000, Durham, NC 27708, USA (b) Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, 69 Brown Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA Article History: Received 11 May 2006; Revised 18 August 2006; Accepted 19 August 2006