ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2003
Phylogenetic and biochemical evidence for sterol synthesis in the bacterium Gemmata obscuriglobus.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 84 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 245 citations in OpenAlex.
- Planctomycetes as Host-Associated Bacteria: A Perspective That Holds Promise for Their Future Isolations, by Mimicking Their Native Environmental Niches in Clinical Microbiology Laboratories.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2020Pooled it
- A sterol reductase responsible for the unusual 8(14)-unsaturation in bacterial sterol production and degradation.Journal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Navigating the Landscape of Cycloartanyl Cations: Synthesis of Fortunefuroic Acid I, Parkeol, 25,26,27-Trinor-3α-hydroxy-17,13-friedolanosta-8,12-dien-23-one, and Spirochensilide A.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- New Insights into Dietary L-Glutamate and L-Aspartate Modulation of Hematology, Immune Responses, and Metabolite Profiles in EnterotoxigenicMetabolites · 2026Article
- A sterol reductase responsible for the unusual 8(14)-unsaturation in bacterial sterol production and degradation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Evolutionary History and Modern Diversity of Triterpenoid Cyclases.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- The evolutionary history and modern diversity of triterpenoid cyclases.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- A geranylgeranyl reductase homolog required for cholesterol production in Myxococcota.Journal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- A century of research on the Planctomycetota bacterial phylum, previously known as Planctomycetes.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Evolutionary formation of melatonin and vitamin D in early life forms: insects take centre stage.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2024Review
- Novel sterol binding domains in bacteria.eLife · 2024Article
- Article
- Squalene hopene cyclases and oxido squalene cyclases: potential targets for regulating cyclisation reactions.Biotechnology letters · 2023Review
- De novo cholesterol biosynthesis in bacteria.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Article
- Comparative metabolomic analysis reveals shared and unique chemical interactions in sponge holobionts.Microbiome · 2022Article
- A cryptic phosphate-binding pocket on the SPFH domain of human stomatin that regulates a novel fibril-like self-assembly.Current research in structural biology · 2022Article
- Advances in steroidal saponins biosynthesis.Planta · 2021Review
- Evolution of bacterial steroid biosynthesis and its impact on eukaryogenesis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Concerning P450 Evolution: Structural Analyses Support Bacterial Origin of Sterol 14α-Demethylases.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sterol biosynthesis is viewed primarily as a eukaryotic process, and the frequency of its occurrence in bacteria has long been a subject of controversy. Two enzymes, squalene monooxygenase and oxidosqualene cyclase, are the minimum necessary for initial biosynthesis of sterols from squalene. In this work, 19 protein gene sequences for eukaryotic squalene monooxygenase and 12 protein gene sequences for eukaryotic oxidosqualene cyclase were compared with all available complete and partial prokaryotic genomes. The only unequivocal matches for a sterol biosynthetic pathway were in the proteobacterium, Methylococcus capsulatus, in which sterol biosynthesis is known, and in the planctomycete, Gemmata obscuriglobus. The latter species contains the most abbreviated sterol pathway yet identified in any organism. Analysis shows that the major sterols in Gemmata are lanosterol and its uncommon isomer, parkeol. There are no subsequent modifications of these products. In bacteria, the sterol biosynthesis genes occupy a contiguous coding region and possibly comprise a single operon. Phylogenetic trees constructed for both enzymes show that the sterol pathway in bacteria and eukaryotes has a common ancestry. It is likely that this contiguous reading frame was exchanged between bacteria and early eukaryotes via lateral gene transfer or endosymbiotic events. The primitive sterols produced by Gemmata suggest that this genus could retain the most ancient remnants of the sterol biosynthetic pathway.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.