Evolution of major metabolic innovations in the Precambrian

Abstract

A combination of the information on the metabolic capabilities of prokaryotes with a composite phylogenetic tree depicting an overview of prokaryote evolution based on the sequences of bacterial ferredoxin, 2Fe-2S ferredoxin, 5S ribosomal RNA, and c-type cytochromes shows three zones of major metabolic innovation in the Precambrian. The middle of these, which reflects the genesis of oxygen releasing photosynthesis and aerobic respiration, links metabolic innovations of the anaerobic stem on the one hand and, on the other, proliferation of aerobic bacteria and the symbiotic associations leading to the eukaryotes. We consider especially those pathways where information on the structure of the enzymes is known. Halobacterium and Thermoplasma (archaebacteria) do not belong to a totally independent line on the basis of the composite tree but branch from the eukaryote cytoplasmic line.