Evolution end classification of tfd gene clusters mediating bacterial degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)

Abstract

The tfd (tfdI and tfdII) are gene clusters originally discovered in plasmid pJP4 which is involved in the bacterial degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) via the ortho-cleavage pathway of chlorinated catechols. They share this activity, with respect to substituted catechols, with clusters tcb and clc. Although great efforts have been devoted over nearly forty years to exploring the structural diversity of these clusters, their evolution has been poorly resolved to date, and their classification is clearly obsolete. Employing comparative genomic and phylogenetic approaches revealed that all tfd clusters can be classified as one of four different types. The following four-type classification and new nomenclature are proposed: tfdI, tfdII, tfdIII and tfdIV(A,B,C). Horizontal gene transfer between Burkholderiales and Sphingomonadales provided phenomenal linkage between tfdI, tfdII, tfdIII and tfdIV type clusters and their mosaic nature. It is hypothesized that the evolution of tfd gene clusters proceeded within first (tcb, clc and tfdI), second (tfdII and tfdIII) and third (tfdIV(A,B,C)) evolutionary lineages in each of which the genes were clustered in specific combinations. Their clusterization has been discussed through the prism of hot spots and driving forces of various models, theories, and hypotheses of cluster and operon formation. Two hypotheses about series of gene deletions and displacements have also been proposed to explain the structural variations across members of clusters tfdII and tfdIII, respectively. Taking everything into account, these findings reconstructing the phylogeny of tfd clusters, have delineated their evolutionary trajectories, and allowed the contribution of various evolutionary processes to be assessed.