Resurrecting the ancient glow of the fireflies.
Resurrecting the ancient glow of the fireflies.
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复活萤火虫的古老光芒。
DOI：
10.1126/sciadv.abc5705
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发表时间：
2020-12
期刊：
影响因子：
13.6
通讯作者：
Shirai T
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Oba Y;Konishi K;Yano D;Shibata H;Kato D;Shirai T
已灭绝的萤火虫荧光素酶的复活揭示了甲虫古代发光的进化历史。萤火虫生物发光的颜色是由荧光素酶的结构决定的。萤火虫荧光素酶基因已从 30 多个物种中分离出来，产生从绿色到橙黄色的光。在这里，我们重建了七个祖先萤火虫荧光素酶基因，表征了重组蛋白的酶学特性，并确定了祖先萤火虫科基因的晶体结构。结果表明，萤火虫最后一个共同祖先的合成萤光素酶因酶中萤光素分子的空间限制而发出绿光，而萤火虫萤光素酶的原始功能脂肪酰辅酶A合成活性却随之减弱。所有已知的萤火虫物种在幼虫中都会发光，它们的共同祖先出现在大约一亿年前。综合起来，我们的研究结果表明，在白垩纪中期的森林中，萤火虫的共同祖先通过权衡原始功能进化出了绿光荧光素酶，这可能是针对夜间捕食的警告显示。
Resurrection of extinct firefly luciferases sheds light on the evolutionary history of ancient glow of the beetles. The color of firefly bioluminescence is determined by the structure of luciferase. Firefly luciferase genes have been isolated from more than 30 species, producing light ranging in color from green to orange-yellow. Here, we reconstructed seven ancestral firefly luciferase genes, characterized the enzymatic properties of the recombinant proteins, and determined the crystal structures of the gene from ancestral Lampyridae. Results showed that the synthetic luciferase for the last common firefly ancestor exhibited green light caused by a spatial constraint on the luciferin molecule in enzyme, while fatty acyl-CoA synthetic activity, an original function of firefly luciferase, was diminished in exchange. All known firefly species are bioluminescent in the larvae, with a common ancestor arising approximately 100 million years ago. Combined, our findings propose that, within the mid-Cretaceous forest, the common ancestor of fireflies evolved green light luciferase via trade-off of the original function, which was likely aposematic warning display against nocturnal predation.