State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2012 Mar;79(3):121-34. doi: 10.1002/arch.21011.
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), plays roles in a variety of cellular responses. However, limited information is available on the relationship between ERKs and environmental stresses. In this report, an ERK gene, AccERK2, was cloned and characterized from Apis cerana cerana. Polypeptide sequence alignment revealed that the single-copied AccERK2 shares high identity with other known ERKs and contains the typical conserved Thr-Glu-Tyr (TEY) motif in its activation loop. Genomic sequence analysis revealed that the seven exons of AccERK2 are interrupted by six introns, and the seventh intron is located in the 3' untranslated region. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription (RT-PCR) indicated that AccERK2 was expressed at higher levels in the larval and pupal stages than in the adult stage. AccERK2 was also most highly expressed in the brain. The expression of AccERK2 was induced by abiotic stresses, including heat, ion irradiation, oxidative stress, and heavy metal ions. Based on these results, it appears that AccERK2 in A. cerana cerana participates in developmental processes, the nervous system, and responses to environmental stressors.
细胞外信号调节激酶（ERK）是丝裂原活化蛋白激酶（MAPK）家族的一员，在多种细胞反应中发挥作用。然而，ERK 与环境胁迫之间的关系的相关信息有限。本研究从中华蜜蜂（Apis cerana cerana）中克隆并鉴定了一个 ERK 基因 AccERK2。蛋白序列比对显示，AccERK2 是一个单拷贝基因，与其他已知的 ERK 具有高度的同源性，并且在其激活环中含有典型的保守 Thr-Glu-Tyr（TEY）基序。基因组序列分析表明，AccERK2 的 7 个外显子被 6 个内含子打断，第 7 个内含子位于 3'非翻译区。半定量 RT-PCR 结果显示，AccERK2 在幼虫和蛹期的表达水平高于成虫期。AccERK2 在脑中的表达量最高。AccERK2 的表达还受到非生物胁迫的诱导，包括热、离子辐射、氧化应激和重金属离子。这些结果表明，中华蜜蜂 AccERK2 参与了发育过程、神经系统和对环境胁迫因子的响应。
