Palaeotemperature trend for Precambrian life inferred from resurrected proteins

Eric A. Gaucher (), Sridhar Govindarajan and Omjoy K. Ganesh
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Eric A. Gaucher: Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Florida 32601, USA
Sridhar Govindarajan: DNA2.0, Inc., Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
Omjoy K. Ganesh: University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 451, issue 7179, 704-707

Abstract: Time travelling proteins Comparisons of genome sequence data in closely and distantly related modern organisms can be used for the computational reconstruction of ancient protein sequences that may have existed in related but now extinct types. These proteins can then be 'resurrected' in the laboratory. This has now been achieved for a group of 25 ancestral elongation factors from bacteria across an estimated span of 3 billion years. These ancient proteins display a near linear increase in thermostability travelling back in geological time, suggesting that the environment supporting ancient life was initially hot, then cooled progressively by about 30 °C during that period. This pattern is corroborated by the palaeotemperature trend inferred for the geologic record.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06510

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