Efficient Tryptophan-catabolizing Activity is Consistently Conserved Through Evolution of TDO Enzymes, but Not IDO Enzymes

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) enzymes have independently evolved to catalyze the first step in the catabolism of tryptophan (L-Trp) through the kynurenine pathway. TDO is found in almost all metazoan and many bacterial species, but not in fungi. We show that TDO enzymes have high catalytic-efficiency for L-Trp catabolism, regardless of their biological origin, suggesting that TDO has been an L-Trp-specific degrading enzyme throughout its evolution. Meanwhile, IDO was initially discovered in mammals, and subsequently has been found in lower vertebrates, several invertebrates, fungi and a number of bacterial species. Some lineages have independently generated multiple IDO paralogues through gene duplications. Interestingly, only mammalian IDO1s and fungal typical IDOs have high affinity and catalytic efficiency for L-Trp catabolism, comparable to TDOs. We show that invertebrate IDO enzymes have low affinity and catalytic efficiency for L-Trp catabolism. We suggest that the phylogenetic distribution of low catalytic-efficiency IDOs indicates the ancestral IDO also had low affinity and catalytic efficiency for L-Trp catabolism. IDOs with high catalytic-efficiency for L-Trp-catabolism may have evolved in certain lineages to fulfill particular biological roles. The low catalytic-efficiency IDOs have been well conserved in a number of lineages throughout their evolution, although it is not clear that the enzymes contribute significantly to L-Trp catabolism in these species. Investigation of other substrates and functions of the ancestral IDO and low catalytic efficiency IDOs may identify additional biological roles for these enzymes. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 324B: 128-140, 2015. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.