Coevolution of RuBisCO in bryophytes: Insights into structural adaptation and terrestrial transition

Research on the molecular evolution of the RuBisCO enzyme's major component in early-diverging terrestrial plants is inadequate. RuBisCO is a highly important enzyme in photosynthesis that catalyses carbon fixation and performs a central role in global carbon cycles. Bryophytes, which include liverworts, hornworts and mosses, provide a unique evolutionary role as some of the earliest earth plants. To find out better insight about the RuBisCO evolution, this study explores the coevolutionary dynamics in bryophytes using previously available sequence data from UniProt. The methodology pipeline includes the alignment of homologous sequences, filtering and data analysis using CoMap v1.5.2 to find out the coevolving residues. Results revealed that 35 coevolving groups were found in the result of CoMap and 35 coevolving residues i.e., amino acids come under category of secondary structural elements and a total 72 amino acids out total 475 amino acid protein was involved in coevolution. The findings revealed significant coevolution in RuBisCO, which primarily involves hydrophobic and uncharged polar residues, enhancing the structural integrity and catalytic efficiency. This coevolution highlights structural integrity and adaptive potential in response to environmental and functional constraints. This study not only advances our understanding of evolutionary history and functional mechanisms of RuBisCO but also opens new avenues for research and applications in plant biology, synthetic biology and environmental science.