NAI
Trinity Hamilton
Montana State University
Research Activities
The presence of active site clusters resembling mineral motifs has led to several hypotheses regarding the primordial nature of complex metalloenzymes in biology. The active site clusters central to the catalytic activity of these metalloenzymes require a number of accessory proteins to produce, suggesting a complex evolutionary history for these metalloproteins. Thus, experimental investigation of the origins and evolutionary histories of maturation proteins, in addition to the structural proteins, holds tremendous promise for understanding the deep evolutionary history of these complex metalloproteins. Here, we present experimental evidence from two case studies that reveal several potentially unifying themes in metalloenzyme evolution. Collectively, the empirical data from these analyses challenge the paradigm that complex metalloenzymes are primordial in nature and alternatively suggest a stepwise evolutionary history for metalloprotein active site cluster synthesis, resulting in enzymes with altered substrate specificity and/or enhanced catalytic activity.
Current Projects
- Physiology of Microbial Populations From W/R Hosted Ecosystems — 2015 NAI
- Subglacial Environments as Water‐Rock Hosted Microbial Ecosystems — 2015 NAI
- Biosignatures of Life in Ancient Stratified Ocean Analogs — 2014 NAI
- Developing New Biosignatures — 2013 NAI
- Biosignatures in Relevant Microbial Ecosystems — 2013 NAI
- The Subglacial Biosphere – Insights Into Life-Sustaining Strategies in an Extraterrestrial Analog Environment — 2012 NAI
- Molecular Evolution: A Top Down Approach to Examine the Origin of Key Biochemical Processes — 2012 NAI
- Ecology of Extreme Environments: Characterization of Energy Flow, Bioenergetics, and Biodiversity in Early Earth Analog Ecosystems — 2012 NAI
- Biosignatures in Relevant Microbial Ecosystems — 2012 NAI
- Molecular Evolution: A Top Down Approach to Examine the Origin of Key Biochemical Processes — 2011 NAI
- Ecology of Extreme Environments: Characterization of Energy Flow, Bioenergetics, and Biodiversity in Early Earth Analog Ecosystems — 2011 NAI
- The Subglacial Biosphere – Insights Into Life-Sustaining Strategies in an Extraterrestrial Analog Environment — 2011 NAI
- Molecular Paleontology of Iron-Sulfur Enzymes — 2010 NAI
- PHL 278: A Gateway Course for a Minor in Astrobiology — 2010 NAI
- Functional Based Habitability – Defining the Environmental Factors That Constrain Modes of Microbial Metabolism — 2010 NAI
- Evolution of Nitrogen Fixation, Photosynthesis, Hydrogen Metabolism, and Methanogenesis — 2009 NAI
- View all 16 projects
NAI Project Collaborators
- Project collaborators as reported by the latest NAI Annual Report.
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Publications
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Boyd, E. S., Anbar, A. D., Miller, S., Hamilton, T. L., Lavin, M., & Peters, J. W. (2011). A late methanogen origin for molybdenum-dependent nitrogenase. Geobiology, 9(3), 221–232. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2011.00278.x
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Boyd, E. S., Hamilton, T. L., & Peters, J. W. (2011). An Alternative Path for the Evolution of Biological Nitrogen Fixation. Frontiers in Microbiology, 2. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2011.00205
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Boyd, E. S., Hamilton, T. L., Spear, J. R., Lavin, M., & Peters, J. W. (2010). -hydrogenase in Yellowstone National Park: evidence for dispersal limitation and phylogenetic niche conservatism. ISME J, 4(12), 1485–1495. doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.76
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Boyd, E. S., Lange, R. K., Mitchell, A. C., Havig, J. R., Hamilton, T. L., Lafreniere, M. J., … Skidmore, M. (2011). Diversity, Abundance, and Potential Activity of Nitrifying and Nitrate-Reducing Microbial Assemblages in a Subglacial Ecosystem. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77(14), 4778–4787. doi:10.1128/aem.00376-11
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Hamilton, T. L., Boyd, E. S., & Peters, J. W. (2011). Environmental Constraints Underpin the Distribution and Phylogenetic Diversity of nifH in the Yellowstone Geothermal Complex. Microbial Ecology, 61(4), 860–870. doi:10.1007/s00248-011-9824-9
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Hamilton, T. L., Lange, R. K., Boyd, E. S., & Peters, J. W. (2011). Biological nitrogen fixation in acidic high-temperature geothermal springs in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Environmental Microbiology, 13(8), 2204–2215. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02475.x
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Hamilton, T. L., Vogl, K., Bryant, D. A., Boyd, E. S., & Peters, J. W. (2011). Environmental constraints defining the distribution, composition, and evolution of chlorophototrophs in thermal features of Yellowstone National Park. Geobiology, 10(3), 236–249. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2011.00296.x
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Sarma, R., Barney, B. M., Hamilton, T. L., Jones, A., Seefeldt, L. C., & Peters, J. W. (2008). Crystal Structure of the L Protein of Rhodobacter sphaeroides Light-Independent Protochlorophyllide Reductase with MgADP Bound: A Homologue of the Nitrogenase Fe Protein † ‡. Biochemistry, 47(49), 13004–13015. doi:10.1021/bi801058r
See Project - Boyd, E.S., Anbar, A.D., Miller, S., Hamilton, T.L., Lavin, M. & Peters, J.W. (Submitted). An early origin for Molybdenum-nitrogenase. Science. See Project
- Hamilton, T.L., Boyd, E.S. & Peters, J.W. (2010). Geochemical controls on the phylogenetic structure and composition of NifH in Yellowstone National Park. In review. See Project
- View all 10 publications
