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A more recent version of this article appeared on September 1, 2007
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Submitted on March 1, 2007
Revised on June 15, 2007
Accepted on June 18, 2007
*Research Group Algorithms in Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;
Research Group Structural Biochemistry, Department of Neurobiology, Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Monitoring Editor: Sean Munro
Proteins of the SNARE family are essential for the fusion of transport vesicles with an acceptor membrane. Despite considerable sequence divergence, their mechanism of action is conserved: heterologous sets assemble into membrane-bridging SNARE complexes, in effect driving membrane fusion. Within the cell, distinct functional SNARE units are involved in different trafficking steps. These functional units are conserved across species and probably reflect the conservation of the particular transport step. Here, we have systematically analyzed SNARE sequences from 145 different species and have established a highly accurate classification for all SNARE proteins. Principally, all SNAREs split into four basic types reflecting their position in the four-helix bundle complex. Among these four basic types, we established twenty SNARE subclasses that probably represent the original repertoire of a eukaryotic cenancestor. This repertoire has been modulated independently in different lines of organisms. Our data are in line with the notion that the ur-eukaryotic cell was already equipped with the various compartments found in contemporary cells. Possibly, the development of these compartments is closely intertwined with episodes of duplication and divergence of a prototypic SNARE unit. Keywords: vesicle trafficking/SNARE protein/membrane fusion/protein evolution
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