Properties and Phylogeny of 76 Families of Bacterial and Eukaryotic Organellar Outer Membrane Pore-Forming Proteins

PLoS One. 2016 Apr 11;11(4):e0152733. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152733. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

We here report statistical analyses of 76 families of integral outer membrane pore-forming proteins (OMPPs) found in bacteria and eukaryotic organelles. 47 of these families fall into one superfamily (SFI) which segregate into fifteen phylogenetic clusters. Families with members of the same protein size, topology and substrate specificities often cluster together. Virtually all OMPP families include only proteins that form transmembrane pores. Nine such families, all of which cluster together in the SFI phylogenetic tree, contain both α- and β-structures, are multi domain, multi subunit systems, and transport macromolecules. Most other SFI OMPPs transport small molecules. SFII and SFV homologues derive from Actinobacteria while SFIII and SFIV proteins derive from chloroplasts. Three families of actinobacterial OMPPs and two families of eukaryotic OMPPs apparently consist primarily of α-helices (α-TMSs). Of the 71 families of (putative) β-barrel OMPPs, only twenty could not be assigned to a superfamily, and these derived primarily from Actinobacteria (1), chloroplasts (1), spirochaetes (8), and proteobacteria (10). Proteins were identified in which two or three full length OMPPs are fused together. Family characteristic are described and evidence agrees with a previous proposal suggesting that many arose by adjacent β-hairpin structural unit duplications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / chemistry*
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / metabolism
  • Chloroplasts / metabolism
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Eukaryota / chemistry
  • Eukaryota / metabolism
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Phylogeny*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins