Universally conserved proteins

These proteins are present in all genomes sequenced so far, from archaea and bacteria to man. So, one can say, that there is no life on earth without this small set of proteins. The genes encoding these proteins are usually essential.

Parent category	6. Groups of genes
Neighbouring categories	6.1. Essential genes 6.2. Membrane proteins 6.3. GTP-binding proteins 6.4. Phosphoproteins 6.5. Universally conserved proteins 6.6. Poorly characterized/ putative enzymes 6.7. Proteins of unknown function 6.8. Short peptides 6.9. ncRNA 6.10. Pseudogenes
Related categories	none
Overview on the categories (Excel file) All genes and their categories (Excel file)

Glycolytic enzymes

• Eno enolase
• Pgk phosphoglycerate kinase

Ribosomal proteins

RplA, RplB, RplC, RplE, RplF, RplK, RplN, RplR, RplV, RpsB, RpsC, RpsD, RpsE, RpsG, RpsH, RpsJ, RpsM, RpsQ, RpsS

Cellular processes

• GroES chaperonine
• SecY secretion

Nucleotide metabolism

• Prs phosphoribosyl-PP-synthetase
• Apt adenine phosphoribosyltransferase
• TruA pseudouridylate synthase

Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases

ArgS, PheS, GltX

Degradation of glycoproteins and/or tRNA modification

• Gcp sialo-glycoprotein endopeptidase

Note

FtsZ has long been considered to be universally conserved. However, recently some Mycoplasma species lacking FtsZ have been found.

Important publications

Michael Y Galperin, Eugene V Koonin
'Conserved hypothetical' proteins: prioritization of targets for experimental study.
Nucleic Acids Res: 2004, 32(18);5452-63
[PubMed:15479782] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (I e)