A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the serpin superfamily

Serine protease inhibitors (serpins) are found in all kingdoms of life and play essential roles in multiple physiological processes. Owing to the diversity of the superfamily, phylogenetic analysis is challenging and prokaryotic serpins have been speculated to have been acquired from Metazoa through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) due to their unexpectedly high homology. Here we have leveraged a structural alignment of diverse serpins to generate a comprehensive 6000-sequence phylogeny that encompasses serpins from all kingdoms of life. We show that in addition to a central “hub” of highly conserved serpins, there has been extensive diversification of the superfamily into many novel functional clades. Our analysis indicates that the hub proteins are ancient and are similar because of convergent evolution, rather than the alternative hypothesis of HGT. This work clarifies longstanding questions in the evolution of serpins and provides new directions for research in the field of serpin biology.