Kamikouchi A, Takeuchi H, Sawata M, Ohashi K, Natori S, Kubo T
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1998 Jan 6;242(1):181-6. doi: 10.1006/bbrc.1997.7870.
A gene expressed preferentially in the mushroom bodies of the brain of the worker honeybee Apis mellifera L. was identified by the differential display method and its cDNA was isolated. The cDNA fragment of 534 bp (clone A1) contained an open reading frame encoding 177 amino acid residues having 78, 72, 70, 59 and 55% sequence identities with the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptors of Drosophila melanogaster, Xenopus laevis and humans (types 1, 2 and 3), respectively, suggesting that it encodes a putative IP3 receptor homologue of the honeybee. In situ hybridization revealed that the gene encoding clone A1 was expressed preferentially in the mushroom bodies and not in the optic lobes, antennal lobes and central bodies; in the mushroom body, it was expressed strongly in the large type Kenyon cells and weakly in the small type Kenyon cells. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that the gene was expressed strongly in the head and weakly in the antennae, legs, thorax, and abdomen. These results suggest that the A1 gene product plays a crucial role in neural transmission in the mushroom bodies of the worker bee brain.
通过差异显示法鉴定出一个在工蜂意大利蜜蜂大脑蘑菇体中优先表达的基因，并分离出其cDNA。534 bp的cDNA片段（克隆A1）包含一个开放阅读框，编码177个氨基酸残基，与黑腹果蝇、非洲爪蟾和人类（1、2和3型）的肌醇1,4,5-三磷酸（IP3）受体的序列同一性分别为78%、72%、70%、59%和55%，这表明它编码一种推测的蜜蜂IP3受体同源物。原位杂交显示，编码克隆A1的基因优先在蘑菇体中表达，而在视叶、触角叶和中央体中不表达；在蘑菇体中，它在大型肯扬细胞中强烈表达，在小型肯扬细胞中弱表达。逆转录聚合酶链反应分析表明，该基因在头部强烈表达，在触角、腿部、胸部和腹部弱表达。这些结果表明，A1基因产物在工蜂大脑蘑菇体的神经传递中起关键作用。
