Parry, Bradley R.. Divergence of AMP synthetic and degradative machinery, and functional implications in psychrophiles. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3SB45ZT
DescriptionA large group of organisms is well-suited to life at low temperatures (e.g., <20°C, termed psychrophiles) and is therefore able to colonize the majority of earth's biosphere. Interestingly, all observed kingdoms of psychrophiles have been shown to increase concentrations of ATP as temperatures decline; this phenomena has been described as an important compensatory mechanism to deal with decreased thermal energy. In an effort to understand this phenomena, both evolutionarily and metabolically, psychrophilic and mesophilic purine synthesis pathways were examined. Psychrophilic purine synthesis pathways tend to be enriched with de novo AMP synthetic enzymes, while mesophiles tend to be enriched with AMP degradative enzymes. The function of observed psychrophilic pathway structure was tested by engineering the mesophile Escherichia coli to reflect psychrophilic purine synthesis. Mutant E. coli was capable of growing up to 70% faster at low temperatures and became up to 10 fold more cold tolerant relative wild-type. These findings highlight an important evolutionary step in psychrophilic evolution.