Using Evolutionary Relationships of the Poly-ADP-ribose Polymerase (PARP) Gene Family to Identify Nearest Relative to the Undefined PARPs

Abstract

Poly-ADP-ribose polymerases (PARPs) are proteins of a gene family that catalyze the post-translational modification (PTM) ADP-ribosylation. There are five human groups within the family that are defined according to known or unknown functions: DNA-PARPs, Tankyrase-PARPs, CCCH-PARPs, Macro-PARPs, and unknown-PARPs. Each of these members and their respective ortholog genes in four additional species (mouse, rat, zebrafish, and fruit fly) were studied to reveal evolutionary relationships and identify the nearest relative to each undefined member. This study showed PARP members group by function, that undefined-PARPs, 4, 6, 8, and 16 nearest relatives are DNA-PARPs, undefined-PARP10’s nearest relative is CCCH or Macro-PARPs, and undefined-PARP11’s nearest relative is CCCH-PARPs, and also provided evidence that another gene belongs in the PARP gene family, ZC3HAV1L. The evolution of Macro-PARP members 9, 14, and 15 revealed that gene duplication likely occurred.