Extreme anoxia tolerance in crucian carp and goldfish through neofunctionalization of duplicated genes creating a new ethanol-producing pyruvate decarboxylase pathway



Fagernes, Cathrine E, Stenslokken, Kare-Olav, Rohr, Smund K, Berenbrink, Michael ORCID: 0000-0002-0793-1313, Ellefsen, Stian and Nilsson, Goran E
(2017) Extreme anoxia tolerance in crucian carp and goldfish through neofunctionalization of duplicated genes creating a new ethanol-producing pyruvate decarboxylase pathway. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 7 (1). 7884-. ISSN 2045-2322, 2045-2322

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Abstract

Without oxygen, most vertebrates die within minutes as they cannot meet cellular energy demands with anaerobic metabolism. However, fish of the genus Carassius (crucian carp and goldfish) have evolved a specialized metabolic system that allows them to survive prolonged periods without oxygen by producing ethanol as their metabolic end-product. Here we show that this has been made possible by the evolution of a pyruvate decarboxylase, analogous to that in brewer's yeast and the first described in vertebrates, in addition to a specialized alcohol dehydrogenase. Whole-genome duplication events have provided additional gene copies of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex that have evolved into a pyruvate decarboxylase, while other copies retained the essential function of the parent enzymes. We reveal the key molecular substitution in duplicated pyruvate dehydrogenase genes that underpins one of the most extreme hypoxic survival strategies among vertebrates and that is highly deleterious in humans.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Animals, Carps, Goldfish, Oxygen, Ethanol, Pyruvate Decarboxylase, Alcohol Dehydrogenase, Fish Proteins, Adaptation, Physiological, Signal Transduction, Anaerobiosis, Amino Acid Sequence, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, Genes, Duplicate, Hypoxia
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 20 Jul 2017 10:53
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2024 22:56
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-07385-4
Open Access URL: http://rdcu.be/uVvp
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3008558