Futahashi Ryo, Okamoto Shun, Kawasaki Hideki, Zhong Yang-Sheng, Iwanaga Masashi, Mita Kazuei, Fujiwara Haruhiko
Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2008 Dec;38(12):1138-46. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2008.05.007.
Many kinds of cuticular proteins are found in a single insect species and their numbers and features are diversified among insects. Because there are so many cuticular proteins and so much sequence variation among them, an overview of cuticular protein gene is needed. Recently, a complete silkworm genome sequence was obtained through the integration of data from two whole genome sequence projects performed independently in 2004. To identify cuticular protein genes in the silkworm Bombyx mori exhaustively, we searched both the Bombyx whole genome sequence as well as various EST libraries, and found 220 putative cuticular protein genes. We also revised the annotation of the gene model, and named each identified cuticular protein based on its motif. The phylogenetic tree of cuticular protein genes among B. mori, Drosophila melanogaster, and Apis mellifera revealed that duplicate cuticular protein clusters have evolved independently among insects. Comparison of EST libraries and northern blot analyses showed that the tissue- and stage-specific expression of each gene was intricately regulated, even between adjacent genes in the same gene cluster. This study reveals many novel cuticular protein genes as well as insights into cuticular protein gene regulation.
在单一昆虫物种中可发现多种表皮蛋白，且其数量和特征在不同昆虫间存在差异。由于表皮蛋白数量众多且彼此间序列变异很大，因此需要对表皮蛋白基因进行概述。最近，通过整合2004年独立开展的两个全基因组测序项目的数据，获得了完整的家蚕基因组序列。为了全面鉴定家蚕中的表皮蛋白基因，我们搜索了家蚕全基因组序列以及各种EST文库，发现了220个假定的表皮蛋白基因。我们还修订了基因模型的注释，并根据其基序对每个鉴定出的表皮蛋白进行了命名。家蚕、黑腹果蝇和意大利蜜蜂中表皮蛋白基因的系统发育树表明，重复的表皮蛋白簇在昆虫中是独立进化的。EST文库比较和Northern印迹分析表明，每个基因的组织特异性和阶段特异性表达受到复杂调控，即使是同一基因簇中的相邻基因之间也是如此。本研究揭示了许多新的表皮蛋白基因以及对表皮蛋白基因调控的见解。
