2024-MBS-617

Halophile Enzyme Diversity in Folate Biosynthesis

Author: Elaine Ma

Faculty Supervisor: José R. de la Torre

Department: Biology

Halobacterium is a species of archaea that live in extreme high salt environments and if put in low/no salt environments their proteins would no longer function. Folate is crucial for all cells to live. For humans, it is crucial for DNA synthesis in our RBCs, and just like humans, bacteria use folate to synthesize the nucleic acids in their DNA. Halobacterium need vitamins, nutrients, and have a plethora of metabolism pathways that are crucial for survival but why do some halophiles need certain enzymes for folate synthesis while others don’t? This is because of evolutionary divergence. We can test this by creating a phylogenetic tree, comparing which enzymes are used in folate synthesis in those who have close relatedness and least relatedness. We can also compare the environments of each halophile to see why they diverged and if the environment played a role in their divergence. After testing and reviewing other research papers, hopefully it will be seen that different halophiles have different enzymes due to evolutionary divergences and the differences in their environments in order to survive.