Evolution of Ribosomal Protein S14 Demonstrated by the Reconstruction of Chimeric Ribosomes in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

S14, an essential ribosomal protein, may have evolved to adapt bacteria to zinc-limited environments by replacement of a zinc-binding motif with a zinc-independent sequence. It was expected that the bacterial ribosome would be tolerant to replacement of S14 because of the previous prediction that the spread of C− type S14 involved horizontal gene transfer.