%0 Journal Article
%T New insights into the evolution of subtilisin-like serine protease genes in Pezizomycotina
%A Juan Li
%A Li Yu
%A Jinkui Yang
%A Linqian Dong
%A Baoyu Tian
%A Zefen Yu
%A Lianming Liang
%A Ying Zhang
%A Xu Wang
%A Keqin Zhang
%J BMC Evolutionary Biology
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2148-10-68
%X Phylogenetic analysis of 189 subtilisin-like serine protease genes from Pezizomycotina suggests five strongly-supported monophyletic clades. The subtilisin-like serine protease genes previously identified or presumed as endocellular proteases were clustered into one clade and diverged the earliest in the phylogeny. In addition, the cuticle-degrading protease genes from entomopathogenic and nematode-parasitic fungi were clustered together, indicating that they might have overlapping pathogenic mechanisms against insects and nematodes. Our experimental bioassays supported this conclusion. Interestingly, although they both function as cuticle-degrading proteases, the subtilisin-like serine protease genes from nematode-trapping fungi and nematode-parasitic fungi were not grouped together in the phylogenetic tree. Our evolutionary analysis revealed evidence for positive selection on the subtilisin-like serine protease genes of the nematode-trapping fungi.Our study provides new insights into the evolution of subtilisin-like serine protease genes in Pezizomycotina. Pezizomycotina subtilisins most likely evolved from endocellular to extracellular proteases. The entomopathogenic and nematode-parasitic fungi likely share similar properties in parasitism. In addition, our data provided better understanding about the duplications and subsequent functional divergence of subtilisin-like serine protease genes in Pezizomycotina. The evidence of positive selection detected in the subtilisin-like serine protease genes of nematode-trapping fungi in the present study suggests that the subtilisin-like serine proteases may have played important roles during the evolution of pathogenicity of nematode-trapping fungi against nematodes.Subtilisin-like serine proteases play an important role in the pathogenicity of pathogenic fungi. By using subtilisin-like serine proteases, pathogenic fungi disrupt the physiological integrity of the hosts during penetration and colonization [1,2]. Previous s
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/68