Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42391499›Full record

ArticleGenome biology and evolution2026

Conservation of IAMT Preference for Indole Acetic Acid Methylation Across 250 Million Years of Seed Plant Divergence, With Only One Recent Evolutionary Switch in Ocimum.

Bahar Saadaie Jahromi, Liberty M Kostrzewa, Turki Alhinaai, Tariq Al-Zadjali, Afrida Amin, Allyson Barth, McKenna E Bayne, Gregory R Begeman, William H Bell, Melanie G Bucko and 42 more

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Article in Genome biology and evolution, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

52 authors.

Bahar Saadaie JahromiDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Liberty M KostrzewaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Turki AlhinaaiDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Tariq Al-ZadjaliDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Afrida AminDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Allyson BarthDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
McKenna E BayneDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Gregory R BegemanDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
William H BellDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Melanie G BuckoDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Emily M CataniaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Angel CurrieDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Glaucia Fernanda de Lima PereiraDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Citlali FigueroaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Allexia B GalentineDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Gedi GambrellDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Fernando D GarciaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Avery E GauthierDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Joseph R GraberDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Brenna J HagenbarthDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Amethyst HallDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Madeline HeemstraDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Ruiqi HuangDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Johnathon HunterDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Ami JaswaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Nathania KaryadiDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Caleb J LearmanDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Kar Men LeeDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.ORCID 0009-0001-5685-4895
Clayton T LewisDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Elizabeth McKenzieDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Marie F McKinneyDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Samantha McLeanDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Haley M MuellerDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Merub NadeemDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Sneha NathDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Vyctoria S NusbaumDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Bryan O'ConnorDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Nivetha PasupathyDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.ORCID 0009-0003-6877-4803
Enish PathakDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Tashfia Tahsin RaisaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Karina RamirezDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Bridget SalazarDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Christian E SanderDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Erin SchneiderDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Kevin SedlacekDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Gwenyth SirrineDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Jake B SpitsbergenDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Leire Garcia TorresDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
My Hien TruongDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Brisa Hernandez VelascoDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Royal WoolfolkDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
Todd J BarkmanDepartment of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2259-2345

Funding

National Science Foundation DBI-2444114National Science Foundation MCB-2325341
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Plant indole-3-acetic acid methyltransferase (IAMT) is an ancient SABATH enzyme that modulates auxin levels via S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM)-dependent methylation. While most IAMTs studied previously prefer to methylate indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), one orthologous enzyme prefers to methylate cinnamic acid (CA) and shows no activity toward IAA. To understand whether other closely related enzymes also show substrate preference switches, we combined molecular phylogenetic analyses with in vitro enzyme assays. A maximum likelihood tree of 704 IAMT-like enzymes shows pervasive retention of IAMT orthologs across nearly all angiosperms and gymnosperms. Our newly reported enzymatic assays of 59 orthologs spanning 52 species and 26 orders revealed strongly conserved methylation preference for IAA across all lineages. However, in the genus Ocimum (Lamiaceae), species appear to possess one copy of IAMT that encodes an IAA-preferring enzyme and a second copy that encodes an enzyme that prefers to methylate CA. Altogether, we experimentally investigated four lineages, Lamiales, Solanales, Fabales, and Rosales, in which IAMT-type enzymes were duplicated but no others showed evidence for substrate preference switches. Alignments and computational modeling of Lamiaceae sequences highlighted M35, L325, and L363 as amino acid substitutions that may account for CA preference evolution in Ocimum enzymes. Yet, experimental mutation of those sites in either modern-day or ancestral sequences did not result in substrate preference changes in enzyme assays. Therefore, further studies are required to phylogenetically pinpoint the timing and structural basis for the shift toward CA methylation preference and to deepen our understanding of molecular evolution of the SABATH enzyme family.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularIndoleacetic AcidsMethyltransferasesPlant ProteinsMethylationPhylogenySubstrate Specificityindoleacetic acidIndoleacetic AcidsMethyltransferasesPlant Proteinsenzyme evolutionmolecular evolutionplant specialized metabolism

Identifiers

PMID42391499
PMCPMC13376665

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