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  • With the advent of genome sequencing hexokinase gene sequenc

    2021-09-11

    With the advent of genome sequencing, hexokinase gene sequences are now available from a far greater number of vertebrate species, as well as from diverse non-vertebrate animal species. As indicated above, searches of vertebrate genome sequences revealed the existence of a novel fifth member of the hexokinase gene family, the hexokinase domain containing 1 (HKDC1) gene (Irwin and Tan, 2008). The HKDC1 gene had not been considered in earlier phylogenetic analyses (Griffin et al., 1991, Bork et al., 1993, Cárdenas et al., 1998). Phylogenetic analysis of this larger diverse set of vertebrate hexokinase genes, combined with the use of outgroups that were closer than the yeast and plant sequences previously used, yielded well supported phylogenies similar to that shown in Fig. 3B (Irwin and Tan, 2008). A similar phylogenetic conclusion was reached in an analysis of hexokinase genes from zebrafish and mammals (González-Alvarez et al., 2009). Both Irwin and Tan (2008) and González-Alvarez et al. (2009) found phylogenetic trees where the divergence of the amino- and carboxy-terminal hexokinase domains of the 100kD hexokinases is the most ancient, and with glucokinase being most closely related to the C-terminal hexokinase domains (Fig. 3B). The HKDC1 gene, in both studies, is most closely related to the hexokinase 1 gene (Irwin and Tan, 2008, González-Alvarez et al., 2009). Among the remaining hexokinases, hexokinase 2 is most closely related to hexokinase 1, with hexokinase 3 being most divergent (Fig. 3B), in agreement with earlier analyses (Bork et al., 1993, Cárdenas et al., 1998). The use of gene sequences from multiple vertebrate species and the use of closer outgroup species yielded a more confident resolution of the phylogeny and placement of the glucokinase sequence as being most closely related to the C-terminal domains. This model of the FH1 of glucokinase is in agreement with that shown in the left of Fig. 3A, as suggested by Ureta (1982), and agrees that glucokinase, along with the other three hexokinase isozymes diverged early in vertebrate evolution (Irwin and Tan, 2008). Duplication of the genes for glucokinase and the three other hexokinase isozymes prior to the earliest divergence of vertebrates would be consistent with these genes originating via the pair of genome duplications (2R hypothesis) that occurred on the early vertebrate lineage (Furlong and Holland, 2002, Hokamp et al., 2003, Panopoulou and Poustka, 2005). While the phylogeny of glucokinase and hexokinase 1, 2, and 3 is not in complete agreement with the 2R hypothesis, this pattern is commonly seen with genes that originated at this time (Friedman and Hughes, 2001, Furlong and Holland, 2002). Further support for the origin of these four genes via genome duplication is the observation that the glucokinase and hexokinase genes are dispersed on four different chromosomes (Irwin and Tan, 2008). HKDC1 appears to be a more recent product of the duplication of the hexokinase I gene and was via a tandem gene duplication, as these two genes are arranged head-to-tail in all vertebrate genomes examined (Irwin and Tan, 2008). Despite being a more recent gene duplication event, this must still have occurred very early in vertebrate evolution as hexokinase 1 and HKDC1 genes are found in all vertebrate classes examined (Irwin and Tan, 2008, González-Alvarez et al., 2009).
    Evolution of the vertebrate hexokinase gene family Combining gene structure and phylogenetic data allows an inference of the events involved in the evolution of the vertebrate 100kD hexokinases and glucokinase. The ancestor of vertebrate hexokinases had a single hexokinase domain and a molecular weight of about 50kD (Ureta, 1982, Wilson, 1995, Wilson, 1997, Wilson, 2003, Wilson, 2004, Cárdenas et al., 1998, Irwin and Tan, 2008). The phylogenetic analysis indicates that a tandem duplication of the hexokinase domain within the hexokinase gene yielded a 100kD hexokinase the common ancestor of vertebrates. This 100kD hexokinase was the ancestor of all vertebrate hexokinases, including glucokinase, and contained two hexokinase domains as shown in the left panel of Fig. 3A as proposed by Ureta (1982). How did the domain duplication occur? Comparison of the intron–exon structure of hexokinase genes (see Fig. 2) showed that exons 11 thought 17 are similar in size to exons 3 though 9 (Magnuson et al., 1989, Thelen and Wilson, 1991, Kogure et al., 1993). Sequences encoded by exon 1 are unique and present in a single copy. While the 5′ end of exon 10 encodes protein sequence similar to that encoded by exon 18, the 3′ end encodes sequence similar to that of exon 2. This observation suggested, as shown in Fig. 4A, that a recombination event between exon 10 of a single-domain hexokinase gene and exon 2 of a second copy of this gene would result in a gene with a structure similar to the genes for HK1, HK2, HK3, and HKDC1. The different genes (HK1, HK2, HK3, and HKDC1) can then be generated by gene duplication events and subsequent sequence divergence (Fig. 4A). A gene with duplicated hexokinase domains is also the ancestor of the vertebrate glucokinase gene (Ureta, 1982), with the glucokinase sequence being most closely related to the C-terminal hexokinase domain (see Section 3 and Fig. 3).