Abstract
The non-reducing disaccharide trehalose is a singular molecule, which has been strictly conserved throughout evolution in prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), lower eukaryotes, plants, and invertebrates, but is absent in vertebrates and—more specifically—in mammals. There are notable differences regarding the pivotal roles played by trehalose among distantly related organisms as well as in the specific metabolic pathways of trehalose biosynthesis and/or hydrolysis, and the regulatory mechanisms that control trehalose expression genes and enzymatic activities. The success of trehalose compared with that of other structurally related molecules is attributed to its exclusive set of physical properties, which account for its physiological roles and have also promoted important biotechnological applications. However, an intriguing question still remains: why are vertebrates in general, and mammals in particular, unable (or have lost the capacity) to synthesize trehalose? The search for annotated genomes of vertebrates reveals the absence of any functional trehalose synthase gene. Indeed, this is also true for the human genome, which contains, however, two genes encoding for isoforms of the hydrolytic activity (trehalase). Although we still lack a convincing answer, this striking difference might reflect the divergent evolutionary lineages followed by invertebrates and vertebrates. Alternatively, some clinical data point to trehalose as a toxic molecule when stored inside the human body.
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank my colleague Dr. D. García (Dept. of Zoology) for her critical reading of the manuscript and fruitful discussions, and to J. P. Guirao-Abad for his help with the graphics. I am truly indebted to Dr. M. J. López-Andreo (SAI, Universidad de Murcia) for her long and patient work with the genomic analysis. The experimental work was supported by Grant PI12/01797 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, ISCIII, Spain). I am also indebted to the financial contract provided by Cespa Servicios Urbanos de Murcia, S.A.
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The author declares no competing financial interests.
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Argüelles, JC. Why Can’t Vertebrates Synthesize Trehalose?. J Mol Evol 79, 111–116 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-014-9645-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-014-9645-9