RRC ID 36372
著者 Suzuki MG, Tochigi M, Sakaguchi H, Aoki F, Miyamoto N.
タイトル Identification of a transformer homolog in the acorn worm, Saccoglossus kowalevskii, and analysis of its activity in insect cells.
ジャーナル Dev Genes Evol
Abstract The transformer (tra) gene is an intermediate component of the sex determination hierarchy in many insect species. The homolog of tra is also found in two branchiopod crustacean species but is not known outside arthropods. We have isolated a tra homolog in the acorn worm, Saccoglossus kowalevskii, which is a hemichordate belonging to the deuterostome superphylum. The full-length complementary DNA (cDNA) of the S. kowalevskii tra homolog (Sktra) has a 3786-bp open reading frame that encodes a 1261-amino acid sequence including a TRA-CAM domain and an arginine/serine (RS)-rich domain, both of which are characteristic of TRA orthologs. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) analyses demonstrated that Sktra showed no differences in expression patterns between testes and ovaries, but its expression level was approximately 7.5-fold higher in the testes than in the ovaries. TRA, together with the protein product of the transformer-2 (tra-2) gene, assembles on doublesex (dsx) pre-messenger RNA (mRNA) via the cis-regulatory element, enhancing female-specific splicing of dsx in Drosophila. To understand functional conservation of the SkTRA protein as a dsx-splicing activator, we investigated whether SkTRA is capable of inducing female-specific splicing of the Drosophila dsx. Ectopic expression of Sktra cDNA in insect cultured cells did not induce the female-specific splicing of dsx. On the other hand, forced expression of Sktra-2 (a tra-2 homolog of S. kowalevskii) was able to induce the female-specific dsx splicing. These results demonstrate that the function as a dsx-splicing activator is not conserved in SkTRA even though SkTRA-2 is capable of functionally replacing the Drosophila TRA-2. We have also found a tra homolog in an echinoderm genome. This study provides the first evidence that that tra is conserved not only in arthropods but also in basal species of deuterostoms.
巻・号 225(3)
ページ 161-9
公開日 2015-6-1
DOI 10.1007/s00427-015-0498-z
PMID 25868907
MeSH Amino Acid Sequence Animals Bombyx / cytology Bombyx / genetics Cell Line DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism Drosophila Proteins / metabolism Drosophila melanogaster / metabolism Eukaryota / classification Eukaryota / genetics* Eukaryota / metabolism Female Male Molecular Sequence Data Nuclear Proteins / chemistry Nuclear Proteins / genetics* Nuclear Proteins / metabolism Ovary / metabolism Phylogeny Sequence Alignment Testis / metabolism
IF 1.339
引用数 2
WOS 分野 CELL BIOLOGY DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
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