Scientists have examined the genome of a living species, Asgardarchaeus, recently discovered in Yellowstone National Park.
Most prokaryotes (non-nuclear) havea single chromosome, which is a circular DNA molecule. Such organisms reproduce asexually. As scientists note, during the process of reproduction, it is enough for such organisms to copy their circular genome and make sure that one copy gets into each new cell. Typically, the ring chromosome is attached to the cell membrane. When a cell grows and begins to split into two, this attachment ensures that one copy ends up in each daughter cell. The FtsZ protein is responsible for this process, which “pinches off” the daughter cell from the parent cell.
Eukaryotes usually have several linear chromosomes andoften such organisms reproduce sexually. During division, eukaryotes form a complex protein framework, mainly based on tubulin. This protein, as biologists note, forms long fibers that help attract copied chromosomes to the poles of a dividing cell.
How did the processes that allowedeukaryotic cells to precisely separate chromosomes was a mystery for a long time. Now, as biologists note, the study of the Odin Tubulin protein in asgardarchae will help answer this question. In their work, the scientists showed that under some conditions this protein exhibits properties similar to prokaryotic FtsZ, and under other conditions, to tubulin.
“Odintubulin may thus representis an evolutionary intermediate between prokaryotic FtsZ and eukaryotic microtubule-forming tubulins,” says Linh Tran, co-author of the study at Okayama University.
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