A novel porcine gene--SLC9A3R2, differentially expressed in the longissimus muscle tissues from Meishan and Large White pigs.

The mRNA differential display technique was performed to investigate the differences of gene expression in the longissimus muscle tissues from Meishan and Large White pigs. One novel gene that was differentially expressed was identified through semi-quantitative RT-PCR and the cDNA complete sequence was then obtained using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) method. The nucleotide sequence of the gene is not homologous to any of the known porcine genes. The sequence prediction analysis revealed that the open reading frame of this gene encodes a protein of 337 amino acids that has high homology with the solute carrier family 9 isoform 3 regulator 2 isoform a of four species--human (92 %), mouse (91 %), rat (90 %), rabbit (87 %)--so that this gene can be defined as swine SLC9A3R2 gene. The phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that the swine SLC9A3R2 gene has the closest genetic relationship with the SLC9A3R2 gene of human. This gene is structured in seven exons and six introns as revealed by computer-assisted analysis. The tissue expression analysis indicated that the swine SLC9A3R2 gene is differentially expressed in different tissues. Our experiment is the first to establish the primary foundation for further research on the swine SLC9A3R2 gene.