The evolution of ribonucleotide reductases

Abstract: Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) catalyses the transformation of RNA building blocks, ribonucleotides, to DNA building blocks, deoxyribonucleotides. This is the only extant reaction pathway for de novo synthesis of DNA building blocks and the enzyme is thus necessary for life. RNR is found in all but a few organisms.There are three classes of RNR, all evolutionarily related. The classification is built on differences in generation of the radical that is central to the reaction. As a consequence, RNR classes have different operational constraints. Class I requires oxygen, while class III is poisoned by oxygen. Class II is independent of oxygen, but dependent on vitamin B12 and, hence, cobalt. This makes RNR interesting from an evolutionary as well as environmental point of view.RNR must have evolved before the transition from RNA encoded genomes to DNA encoded. The extant radical-based reaction is likely similar to the ancestral reaction, which entails that the ancestral enzyme was a protein and not an RNR.My results are consistent with both class II and III being present in the last universal common ancestor. Class I RNR evolved later, presumably once oxygen levels had risen. From commonalities in extant RNRs we can reconstruct their last common ancestor as an enzyme that 1) used a transient cysteine-radical in the reaction, 2) reduced all four ribonucleotides, 3) regulated which nucleotide was reduced after binding an effector nucleotide in the dimer interface of the enzyme and 4) had activity regulation through binding of a nucleotide to another part of the enzyme.The presence of a specific RNR class is likely to influence the environmental range of organisms, which makes horizontal transfer of RNR particularly interesting. Horizontal transfer of RNR genes is widespread, both between closely related organisms and between domains. For instance, all three classes are present in eukaryotes, but likely all three are results of horizontal transfer.