Evolutionary Progression from Archaea to Phage in Z-Genome Biosynthesis.
Originally Published 2 years ago — by Nature.com
Researchers have discovered a third purine biosynthesis pathway in phages that replaces adenine with aminoadenine, a modification previously only found in Archaea. The pathway involves a novel enzyme, GpPurZ0, which catalyzes the conversion of IMP to 2-aminopurine ribonucleotide. The discovery suggests an evolutionary progression from Archaea to phages and expands our understanding of the diversity of DNA biosynthesis pathways.