Molecular evolution of the small subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase: nucleotide substitution and gene conversion.

The nucleotide sequences encoding the mature portion of 31 ribulose 1.5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit (SSU) genes from 17 genera of plants, green algae and cyanobacteria were examined. Among the 465 pairwise sequence comparisons, SSU multigene family members within the same species were more similar to each other in nonsynonymous or replacement nucleotide substitutions (RNS) than they were to SSU sequences in any other organism. The concerted evolution of independent SSU gene lineages within closely related plant species suggests that homogenization of RNS positions has occurred at least once in the life of each genus. The rate of expected RNS among mature SSU sequences was calculated to be 1.25 X 10(-9)/site/yr for the first 70 million years (MY) of divergence with a significant slowing to 0.13 X 10(-9)/site/yr for the next 1,400 MY. The data suggest that mature SSU sequences do not accumulate more than 20% differences in the RNS positions without compensatory changes in other components of this enzyme system. During the first 70 MY of divergence between species, the rate of expected synonymous or silent nucleotide substitutions (SNS) is approximately 6.6 X 10(-9)/site/yr. This is five times the RNS rate and is similar to the silent rate observed in animals. In striking contrast, SNS and RNS do not show this correlation among SSU gene family members within a species. A mechanism involving gene conversion within the exons followed by selection for biased gene conversion products with conservation of RNS positions and divergence of SNS positions is discussed. A SSU gene tree based on corrected RNS for 31 SSU sequences is presented and agrees well with a species tree based on morphological and cytogenetic traits for the 17 genera examined. SSU gene comparisons may be useful in predicting phylogenetic relationships and in some cases divergence times of various plant, algal and cyanobacterial species.