Molecular Clock Evidence for an Archean Diversification of Heme-Copper Oxygen Reductase Enzymes

This dataset contains sequence files and tree files employed in the phylogenetic analysis and molecular dating of the heme-copper oxygen reductases. These ancient enzymes are key components of aerobic respiratory chains; they reduce molecular oxygen to water. Heme-copper oxygen reductase protein sequences were compiled, aligned, and used to construct phylogenetic trees. These phylogenetic trees were coupled with age constraints prior to molecular clock analysis. The resulting molecular clock analyses of these enzymes suggest that they emerged after oxygenic photosynthesis but prior to Earth's Great Oxidation Event.

The protein sequence files can be viewed as text files, though they alternatively may be opened in a program like Jalview. Tree files may similarly be opened as text files or through a graphical viewing program like FigTree.