Affiliations: Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics,
Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, New York, NY
10021, USA | Section of Hematology and Oncology, Department of
Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300
Morris Park Avenue, C-510, Bronx, N.Y. 10461, USA. Tel.: +1 718 430 3513; Fax:
+1 718 430 8567; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Magmas is a nuclear encoded protein found in the mitochondria of
mammalian cells. It participates in granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating
factor (GM-CSF) signaling in hematopoietic cells and has an essential role in
invertebrate development. In order to characterize the protein structural
features and gene evolution of Magmas, a dataset containing 61 Magmas homologs
from 52 species distributed among animals, plants and fungi was analyzed. All
Magmas members were found to possess three novel sequence motifs in addition to
a conserved leader peptide. Phylogenetic tree and dN/dS rate ratios showed that
Magmas was evolutionarily conserved. Analysis of Magmas gene organization
demonstrated incremental intron acquisition in plants and vertebrates.
Significant genetic diversity in Magmas was observed from kingdom specific
amino acid signatures, the presence of predicted signal peptides that target
the protein to other intracellular locations besides the mitochondria, and the
detection of multiple isoforms in higher animals. These studies demonstrate
that Magmas members constitute an important family of conserved proteins having
multifunctional activities, and provide a basis for future experiments.
Keywords: mitochondria, GM-CSF, alternative splicing, gene duplication, functional divergence
