Department of Central Laboratory, The Third People's Hospital of Yancheng, Affiliated Yancheng Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Yancheng, Jiangsu 224000, P.R. China.
Mol Med Rep. 2017 Oct;16(4):4903-4908. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2017.7148. Epub 2017 Aug 2.
Aquaporins (AQP) are proteins that form channels to facilitate the movement of water across cell membranes in plants, bacteria and animals. Insect AQPs are indispensable for cellular water management under stress, including dehydration and cold. To better understand the biological significance of molecular evolution of gene sequences, followed by structural and functional specialization, the present study used ClustalX2.1, MEGA7.0, Jalview and Mesquite software to build an insect AQP phylogenetic tree and visualize the evolutionary associations among insect AQPs. It was demonstrated that 45 AQPs were classified as four major paralogs with each amino acid sequence containing two conserved NPA (Asp‑Pro‑Ala) motifs located in the center and C‑terminal domains, and other residues conserved within the paralogous groups, however not among them. All these differences in amino acid content may affect the structure, function and classification of the AQPs. The findings provide a basis for further study to understand insect AQPs through sequence comparison, structure and predicted function.
水通道蛋白（AQP）是一类能够形成通道的蛋白，可促进植物、细菌和动物细胞内外的水分子运动。昆虫 AQP 对于应对脱水和寒冷等压力条件下的细胞水分管理至关重要。为了更好地理解基因序列分子进化的生物学意义，包括结构和功能的特化，本研究使用 ClustalX2.1、MEGA7.0、Jalview 和 Mesquite 软件构建了昆虫 AQP 系统发育树，并可视化了昆虫 AQP 之间的进化关联。结果表明，45 种 AQP 被分为四大亚基，每个氨基酸序列都包含两个保守的 NPA（天冬氨酸-脯氨酸-丙氨酸）基序，位于中央和 C 末端结构域，以及亚基群内的其他保守残基，但不同亚基群之间没有保守残基。所有这些氨基酸含量的差异可能会影响 AQP 的结构、功能和分类。这些发现为进一步通过序列比较、结构和预测功能来研究昆虫 AQP 提供了依据。
