Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD BioMed Central
Résumé : International audience
Background: Ameloblastin (AMBN) is a phosphorylated, proline/glutamine-rich protein secreted during enamel formation. Previous studies have revealed that this enamel matrix protein was present early in vertebrate evolution and certainly plays important roles during enamel formation although its precise functions remain unclear. We performed evolutionary analyses of AMBN in order to (i) identify residues and motifs important for the protein function, (ii) predict mutations responsible for genetic diseases, and (iii) understand its molecular evolution in mammals. Results: In silico searches retrieved 56 complete sequences in public databases that were aligned and analyzed computationally. We showed that AMBN is globally evolving under moderate purifying selection in mammals and contains a strong phylogenetic signal. In addition, our analyses revealed codons evolving under significant positive selection. Evidence for positive selection acting on AMBN was observed in catarrhine primates and the aye-aye. We also found that (i) an additional translation initiation site was recruited in the ancestral placental AMBN, (ii) a short exon was duplicated several times in various species including catarrhine primates, and (iii) several polyadenylation sites are present. Conclusions: AMBN possesses many positions, which have been subjected to strong selective pressure for 200 million years. These positions correspond to several cleavage sites and hydroxylated, O-glycosylated, and phosphorylated residues. We predict that these conserved positions would be potentially responsible for enamel disorder if substituted. Some motifs that were previously identified as potentially important functionally were confirmed, and we found two, highly conserved, new motifs, the function of which should be tested in the near future. This study illustrates the power of evolutionary analyses for characterizing the functional constraints acting on proteins with yet uncharacterized structure.
ISSN: 1471-2148

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01212816
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01212816
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01212816/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01212816/file/s12862-015-0431-0.pdf
DOI : 10.1186/s12862-015-0431-0

Éditeur(s) : Centre Océanologique de Bretagne
Résumé : One of the criteria for selecting a shrimp of commercial interest in French Polynesia is the acceptability of artificial diet; such a criterion has been used to test Penaeus merguiensis.Experiments have been carried out in Centre Océanologique du Pacifique in Tahiti island where the water temperature range is 25-29°C, salinity 35 ppt, pH. 8.2, and photoperiod constant.Juveniles used in this study are hatched in CNEXO-COP at Vairao.It has been found that a 50-55% protein content diet gives a better growth performance. A carbohydrate such as starch appears more suitable than glucose or glucose plus starch in isonitrogenous purified diets.A vitamin mix rich in vitamin C, choline and inositol provides better results and a mineral mix with 3% magnesium reaches optimum. The major nutritional results for this species are applied to formulation of artificial diets.With the best diet, growth performances are normal: from 2.8 g to 9.0 g in 90 days, with about 60% survival rate at alow density, 20 animals/m² under strict control. But at another scale, in 400 m² graw-out tanks, growth was rather low even with an excellent Japanese diet containing 60% protein.Therefore, P. merguiensis does not appear to be a good candidate species for aquafarming in French Polynesia. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR]
Recueil des Travaux du Centre Océanologique de Bretagne (Centre Océanologique de Bretagne), 1979 , P. 705-714

Droits : Centre Océanologique de Bretagne
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/1979/publication-5272.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/5272/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD BioMed Central
Résumé : International audience
Background: Microbial genetic diversity is often investigated via the comparison of relatively similar 16S molecules through multiple alignments between reference sequences and novel environmental samples using phylogenetic trees, direct BLAST matches, or phylotypes counts. However, are we missing novel lineages in the microbial dark universe by relying on standard phylogenetic and BLAST methods? If so, how can we probe that universe using alternative approaches? We performed a novel type of multi-marker analysis of genetic diversity exploiting the topology of inclusive sequence similarity networks. Results: Our protocol identified 86 ancient gene families, well distributed and rarely transferred across the 3 domains of life, and retrieved their environmental homologs among 10 million predicted ORFs from human gut samples and other metagenomic projects. Numerous highly divergent environmental homologs were observed in gut samples, although the most divergent genes were over-represented in non-gut environments. In our networks, most divergent environmental genes grouped exclusively with uncultured relatives, in maximal cliques. Sequences within these groups were under strong purifying selection and presented a range of genetic variation comparable to that of a prokaryotic domain. Conclusions: Many genes families included environmental homologs that were highly divergent from cultured homologs: in 79 gene families (including 18 ribosomal proteins), Bacteria and Archaea were less divergent than some groups of environmental sequences were to any cultured or viral homologs. Moreover, some groups of environmental homologs branched very deeply in phylogenetic trees of life, when they were not too divergent to be aligned. These results underline how limited our understanding of the most diverse elements of the microbial world remains, and encourage a deeper exploration of natural communities and their genetic resources, hinting at the possibility that still unknown yet major divisions of life have yet to be discovered.
ISSN: 1745-6150

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01257771
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01257771
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01257771/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01257771/file/s13062-015-0092-3.pdf
DOI : 10.1186/s13062-015-0092-3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
Tuftelin (TUFT1) is an acidic, phosphorylated glycoprotein, initially discovered in developing enamel matrix. TUFT1 is expressed in many mineralized and non-mineralized tissues. We performed an evolutionary analysis of 82 mammalian TUFT1 sequences to identify residues and motifs that were conserved during 220 million years (Ma) of evolution. We showed that 168 residues (out of the 390 residues composing the human TUFT1 sequence) are under purifying selection. Our analyses identified several, new, putatively functional domains and confirmed previously described functional domains, such as the TIP39 interaction domain, which correlates with nuclear localization of the TUFT1 protein, that was demonstrated in several tissues. We also identified several sites under positive selection, which could indicate evolutionary changes possibly related to the functional diversification of TUFT1 during evolution in some lineages. We discovered that TUFT1 and MYZAP (myocardial zonula adherens protein) share a common ancestor that was duplicated circa 500 million years ago. Taken together, these findings expand our knowledge of TUFT1 evolution and provide new information that will be useful for further investigation of TUFT1 functions.
ISSN: 0022-2844

hal-01516886
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01516886
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01516886/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01516886/file/Delgado_2017_Evolutionary.pdf
DOI : 10.1007/s00239-017-9789-5

Éditeur(s) : Wiley-blackwell
Résumé : Aims Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are industrially valuable molecules with numerous useful properties. This study describes the techniques used for the identification of a novel Vibrio bacterium and preliminary characterization of its EPS. Methods and Results Bioprospection in marine intertidal areas of New Caledonia followed by screening for EPS producing brought to selection of the isolate NC470. Phylogenetic analysis (biochemical tests, gene sequencing and DNADNA relatedness) permitted to identify NC470 as a new member of the Vibrio genus. The EPS was produced in batch fermentation, purified using the ultrafiltration process and analysed by colorimetry, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and HPLC-size exclusion chromatography. This EPS exhibits a high N-acetyl-hexosamines and uronic acid content with a low amount of neutral sugar. The molecular mass was 672x103Da. These data are relevant for possible technological exploitation. Conclusions We propose the name Vibrio neocaledonicus sp. nov for this isolate NC470, producing an EPS with an unusual sugar composition. Comparison with other known polymers permitted to select applications for this polymer. Significance and Impact of the Study This study contributes to evaluate the marine biodiversity of New Caledonia. It also highlights the biotechnological potential of New Caledonia marine bacteria.
Journal Of Applied Microbiology (1364-5072) (Wiley-blackwell), 2013-06 , Vol. 114 , N. 6 , P. 1702-1712

Droits : 2013 The Society for Applied Microbiology
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00144/25501/24036.pdf
DOI:10.1111/jam.12184
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00144/25501/