Skip to main content
profile image
Selected Works of Eric Henderson
Article
Mapping evolution with ribosome structure: intralineage constancy and interlineage variation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (1982)
  • James A. Lake, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Eric Henderson, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Michael W. Clark, University of California, Los Angeles
  • A. T. Matheson, University of Victoria
Download Find in your library
Abstract
Ribosomal small subunits are organized in three general structural patterns that correspond to the eubacterial, archaebacterial, and eukaryotic lineages. Within each of these lineages, ribosomal structure is highly conserved. Small subunits from all three lineages share a common overall structure except for the following differences: (i) small subunits from archaebacteria and from the cytoplasmic component of eukaryotes both contain a feature on the head of the subunit, the archaebacterial bill, that is absent in eubacteria, and (ii) eukaryotic small subunits contain additional regions of density at the base of the subunit, the eukaryotic lobes, that are absent in archaebacteria and in eubacteria. We interpret the intralineage conservation of ribosomal three-dimensional structure as forming a phylogenetic basis for regarding archaebacteria, eubacteria, and eukaryotes as primitive lines. Although our data are separate and independent from those of Woese and Fox, they lend further support to their proposal [Woese, C. R. & Fox, G. E. (1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74, 5088-5090]. These data also provide a simple, rapid, and accurate method for classifying organisms and for identifying new lineages. Finally, interlineage variation of ribosomal structure is used to establish a rigorous framework for considering the evolution of these three lines.
Keywords
  • archaebacterial bill,
  • eukaryotic lobes,
  • unrooted dendrogram,
  • endokaryotic hypothesis
Disciplines
Publication Date
October, 1982
DOI
10.1073/pnas.79.19.5948
Publisher Statement
Copyright 1982 National Academy of Sciences
Citation Information
James A. Lake, Eric Henderson, Michael W. Clark and A. T. Matheson. "Mapping evolution with ribosome structure: intralineage constancy and interlineage variation" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Vol. 79 Iss. 19 (1982) p. 5948 - 5952
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/eric-henderson/6/