Aj. Roger et al., Primary structure and phylogenetic relationships of a malate dehydrogenasegene from Giardia lamblia, J MOL EVOL, 48(6), 1999, pp. 750-755
The lactate and malate dehydrogenases comprise a complex protein superfamil
y with multiple enzyme homologues found in eubacteria, archaebacteria, and
eukaryotes. In this study we describe the sequence and phylogenetic relatio
nships of a malate dehydrogenase (MDH) gene from the amitochondriate diplom
onad protist, Giardia lamblia. Parsimony, distance, and maximum-likelihood
analyses of the MDH protein family solidly position G. lamblia MDH within a
eukaryote cytosolic MDH clade, to the exclusion of chloroplast, mitochondr
ial, and peroxisomal homologues. Further more, G. lamblia MDH is specifical
ly related to a homologue from Trichomonas vaginalis. This MDH topology, to
gether with published phylogenetic analyses of P-tubulin, chaperonin 60, va
lyl-tRNA synthetase, and EF-1 alpha, suggests a sister-group relationship b
etween diplomonads and parabasalids. Since these amitochondriate lineages c
ontain genes encoding proteins which are characteristic of mitochondria and
a-proteobacteria, their shared ancestry suggests that mitochondrial proper
ties were lost in the common ancestor of both groups.