Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on June 26, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msn141
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Craig, J. P.
Right arrow Articles by Lambert, K. N.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Craig, J. P.
Right arrow Articles by Lambert, K. N.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Article

Analysis Of A Horizontally Transferred Pathway Involved In Vitamin B6 Biosynthesis From The Soybean Cyst Nematode Heterodera glycines

James P. Craig

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

Sadia Bekal

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

Matthew Hudson

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

Leslie Domier

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

Terry Niblack

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

Kris N. Lambert

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

Correspondent: University of Illinois, Department of Crop Sciences, Turner Hall, Room AW101, 1102 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, Email: Knlamber{at}uiuc.edu, Phone: 217-265-5165, Fax: 217-333-9817

Received for publication February 15, 2008. Revision received June 4, 2008. Accepted for publication June 14, 2008.

Heterodera glycines is an obligate plant parasite capable of biochemically and developmentally altering its host's cells in order to create a specialized feeding cell. Although the exact mechanism of feeding cell morphogenesis remains a mystery, the nematode's ability to manipulate the plant is thought to be due in part to horizontally transferred genes (HGT). A bioinformatic screen of the nematode genome has revealed homologues of the genes SNZ and SNO, which comprise a metabolic pathway for the de novo biosynthesis of pyridoxal 5’phosphate (PLP), the active form of vitamin B6. Analysis of the two genes, HgSNZ and HgSNO, show that they contain nematode-like introns, generate polyadenylated mRNAs, and map to the SCN genetic linkage map, indicating they are part of the nematode genome. However, gene synteny, protein homology, and phylogenetic evidence suggest prokaryotic origin. This would represent the first case of the horizontal gene transfer of a complete pathway into a nematode or terrestrial animal. Vitamin B6 acts as a cofactor in over 140 different enzymes and recent studies point towards an important role as a potent quencher of reactive oxygen species (ROS). With H. glycines’ penchant for acquiring parasitism genes through HGT along with the absence of this pathway in other land-based animals suggests a specific need for vitamin B6 which may involve the parasite-host interaction.

Key Words: Heterodera glycines • horizontal gene transfer • soybean cyst nematode • pyridoxal 5'phosphate • vitamin B6 • antioxidant


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.