The diversity and phylogeny of molecular motor proteins and fungal cell evolution

该项目的目的是了解控制细胞内运动的蛋白质的进化历史，特别是真菌生物的细胞。真菌的兴起和多样化涉及细胞结构的几个关键变化，从而产生了丰富的生物多样性。这种多样性包括负责在所有环境中回收生物质的生物，以及在重要生态过程中与植物和藻类合作的微生物，例如，生活在植物根部的真菌（真菌）和与藻类生活在一起的真菌（地衣）。真菌还包括许多引起植物和动物疾病的物种，例如人类病原体白色念珠菌和新型隐球菌。区分真核生物细胞（包括真菌细胞）和细菌细胞的特征之一是细胞骨架，其作为三维网络发挥作用，提供了束缚、移动和重组细胞组分的手段。这个三维网络就像一个复杂的铁路系统，有一系列不同的发动机连接并使用化学能在整个细胞中运输细胞成分。这一过程由三种类型的“火车头”和两种不同类型的“铁轨”进行，对许多细胞功能至关重要。因此，许多国际科学家研究这些马达，以了解细胞如何工作。我们已经知道真菌细胞对马达蛋白的利用非常多样。例如，一些真菌细胞有游泳尾巴，需要几种不同类型的运动蛋白的功能。相比之下，其他类型的真菌通过形成圆柱形和丝状细胞来移动;这些细长的细胞需要通过马达蛋白长距离转移细胞成分。因此，马达蛋白的多样化对于真菌的这些和许多其他细胞特征至关重要。直到最近，随着大量基因组测序计划的出现，我们才开始比较生命进化树中运动蛋白家族的多样性。通过比较不同基因组的马达蛋白多样性，我们提高了我们对这些非常重要的蛋白质家族的进化和功能多样性的理解。该项目旨在通过研究真菌细胞马达和相关细胞机器的进化来帮助了解真菌细胞功能的起源和多样性以及真菌的进化历史。该项目将测试这样一种想法，即通过调查真菌马达蛋白家族的进化历史，我们可以确定马达蛋白进化与细胞进化的关系。该项目意义重大，因为它将描述马达蛋白进化和细胞进化之间的关系，提供有关马达蛋白进化如何与真菌形式多样化相关的信息。该项目将为农业和医学上重要真菌的潜在药物靶标提供重要线索。

The aim of this project is to understand the evolutionary history of proteins that control movement within cells, specifically the cells of fungal organisms. The rise and diversification of the Fungi has involved several key changes in cell structures, giving rise to a wealth of biodiversity. This diversity includes organisms responsible for recycling biomass in all environments and microbes that co-operate with plants and algae in important ecological processes, for example, fungi that live in plant roots (mycorrhizae) and fungi that live with algae (lichens). The Fungi also include many species that cause diseases of plants and animals, such as the human pathogens Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. One of the features that distinguish eukaryote cells, including fungal cells, from bacterial cells, is a cellular skeleton which functions as a three-dimensional network providing the means of tethering, moving and re-organising cellular components. This three-dimensional network is like a complicated railway system with a range of different motors attaching and using chemical energy to transport cellular components throughout the cell. This process is conducted by three types of 'locomotive' and on two different types of 'railway track' and is vitally important for many cell functions. Hence, many international communities of scientists study these motors in order to understand how cells work. We already know that fungal cells make very diverse use of motor proteins. For example, some fungal cells have swimming tails that require the function of several different types of motor protein. In contrast, other types of fungi move by forming cylindrical and filamentous cells; these elongated cells require long-distant transfer of cell components by motor proteins. As such the diversification of motor proteins was critical for these and many other cellular characters of the Fungi. Only recently with the advent of numerous genome sequencing projects can we begin to compare the diversity of the motor protein families across the evolutionary tree of life. By comparing motor protein diversity across different genomes we have improved our understanding of the evolution and functional diversity of these very important protein families. This project is designed to help understand the origin and diversification of fungal cellular functions and the evolutionary history of the Fungi by studying the evolution of their cellular motors and associated cellular machinery. The project will test the idea that by investigating the evolutionary history of the fungal motor protein families we can identify how motor protein evolution relates to cell evolution. This project is significant because it will describe the relationship between motor protein evolution and cell evolution, providing information about how motor protein evolution relates to the diversification of fungal forms. The project will provide important clues about potential pharmaceutical targets in agriculturally and medically important fungi.