A distinct lineage of Caudovirales that encodes a deeply branching multi-subunit RNA polymerase

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dc.contributor.authorWeinheimer, Alaina R.en
dc.contributor.authorAylward, Frank O.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2021-02-08T20:02:36Zen
dc.date.available2021-02-08T20:02:36Zen
dc.date.issued2020-09-09en
dc.description.abstractBacteriophages play critical roles in the biosphere, but their vast genomic diversity has obscured their evolutionary origins, and phylogenetic analyses have traditionally been hindered by their lack of universal phylogenetic marker genes. In this study we mine metagenomic data and identify a clade of Caudovirales that encodes the beta and beta' subunits of multi-subunit RNA polymerase (RNAP), a high-resolution phylogenetic marker which enables detailed evolutionary analyses. Our RNAP phylogeny revealed that the Caudovirales RNAP forms a clade distinct from cellular homologs, suggesting an ancient acquisition of this enzyme. Within these multimeric RNAP-encoding Caudovirales (mReC), we find that the similarity of major capsid proteins and terminase large subunits further suggests they form a distinct clade with common evolutionary origin. Our study characterizes a clade of RNAP-encoding Caudovirales and suggests the ancient origin of this enzyme in this group, underscoring the important role of viruses in the early evolution of life on Earth.en
dc.description.notesWe thank members for the Aylward Lab for helpful discussions. A.R.W. was supported by a Doctoral Scholarship from the Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. We acknowledge the National Science Foundation (NSF-IIBR 1918271) and a Simons Early Career Grant in Maine Microbial Ecology and Evolution to F.O.A. We acknowledge the use of the Advanced Research Computing resources at Virginia Tech.en
dc.description.sponsorshipVirginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science; National Science Foundation (NSF-IIBR)National Science Foundation (NSF) [1918271]; Simons Early Career Grant in Maine Microbial Ecology and Evolutionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18281-3en
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723en
dc.identifier.issue1en
dc.identifier.other4506en
dc.identifier.pmid32908149en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/102311en
dc.identifier.volume11en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.titleA distinct lineage of Caudovirales that encodes a deeply branching multi-subunit RNA polymeraseen
dc.title.serialNature Communicationsen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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