Evolutionary diversification of invertase paralogs couples carbon metabolism and sexual reproduction in fission yeasts

Clicks: 4
ID: 327767
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #251 of 255 articles by views in molecular biology and evolution

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 255 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract Dynamic patterns of gene gain and loss play a major role in the diversification of eukaryotes, reflecting adaptation to a broad range of ecological contexts. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of genes provides a powerful framework for understanding how functional innovation shapes life-history traits. Here we report a comprehensive analysis of gene gain and loss across the fission yeast clade, whose evolutionary trajectory remains elusive. Reductive evolution of metabolic genes is a major contributor to species diversification, as observed in other fungal taxa. Notably, we uncovered an evolutionary scenario in which an ancestral gene duplication was followed by lineage-specific loss of one or the other paralog, except in S. pombe , which retained both. We demonstrate that these paralogs encode catalytically-active invertases, named Inv1 and Inv2, with distinct enzymatic properties, localization, regulation, and physiological roles. Inv1 is a secreted enzyme subject to glucose catabolite repression and is the sole invertase required for sucrose assimilation, resembling canonical yeast invertases. In contrast, Inv2 is intracellular, constitutively expressed, and required for inducing sexual differentiation in response to nutrient availability. Overall, these findings reveal an unexpected role for carbon metabolism in modulating the haploid-diploid cycle of fission yeasts, suggesting that diversification of core metabolic functions may contribute to adaptation to environments with distinct sugar compositions. Significance Statement Although Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a prime model organism, little is known about the evolutionary history and ecological adaptations of the broader fission yeast clade. By analyzing patterns of gene gain and loss across fission yeasts, this study identifies metabolic genes as major contributors to genomic diversification and uncovers an unusual case of ancestral gene duplication followed by reciprocal paralog loss. We show that S. pombe uniquely retained both paralogs, which encode distinct invertases that have diverged in regulation, localization, and physiological roles. Functional specialization of these enzymes links carbon metabolism to both nutrient assimilation and the control of sexual differentiation. Together, these findings connect genome evolution to metabolic specialization and life-cycle regulation, providing new insights into the ecological drivers of genome function and evolution in unicellular eukaryotes.
Reference Key
openalex_W7154592134 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Ambre Noly, Céline Faux, Maria Shaldaeva, Louison Bois-Naegelin, Philippe Fort, Dominique Helmlinger
Journal molecular biology and evolution
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/molbev/msag233
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag233
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.