A globin gene of ancient evolutionary origin in lower vertebrates: evidence for two distinct globin families in animals

Hemoglobin, myoglobin, neuroglobin, and cytoglobin are four types of vertebrate globins with distinct tissue distributions and functions. Here, we report the identification of a fifth and novel globin gene from fish and amphibians, which has apparently been lost in the evolution of higher vertebrates (Amniota). Because its function is presently unknown, we tentatively call it globin X (GbX). Globin X sequences were obtained from three fish species, the zebrafish Danio rerio, the goldfish Carassius auratus, and the pufferfish Tetraodon nigroviridis, and the clawed frog Silurana tropicalis. Globin X sequences are distinct from vertebrate hemoglobins, myoglobins, neuroglobins, and cytoglobins. Globin X displays the highest identity scores with neuroglobin (approximately 26% to 35%), although it is not a neuronal protein, as revealed by RT-PCR experiments on goldfish RNA from various tissues. The distal ligand-binding and the proximal heme-binding histidines (E7 and F8), as well as the conserved phenylalanine CD1 are present in the globin X sequences, but because of extensions at the N-terminal and C-terminal, the globin X proteins are longer than the typical eight alpha-helical globins and comprise about 200 amino acids. In addition to the conserved globin introns at helix positions B12.2 and G7.0, the globin X genes contain two introns in E10.2 and H10.0. The intron in E10.2 is shifted by 1 bp in respect to the vertebrate neuroglobin gene (E11.0), providing possible evidence for an intron sliding event. Phylogenetic analyses confirm an ancient evolutionary relationship of globin X with neuroglobin and suggest the existence of two distinct globin types in the last common ancestor of Protostomia and Deuterostomia.     

Intronic hammerhead ribozymes are ultraconserved in the human genome

Small ribozymes have been regarded as living fossils of a prebiotic RNA world that would have remained in the genomes of modern organisms. In this study, we report the ultraconserved occurrence of hammerhead ribozymes in Amniota genomes (reptiles, birds and mammals, including humans), similar to those described previously in amphibians and platyhelminth parasites. The ribozymes mapped to intronic regions of different genes, such as the tumour suppressor RECK in birds and mammals, a mammalian tumour antigen and the dystrobrevin beta in lizards and birds. In vitro characterization confirmed a high self-cleavage activity, whereas analysis of RECK-expressed sequence tags revealed fusion events between the in vivo self-cleaved intron and U5 or U6 small nuclear RNA fragments. Together, these results suggest a conserved role for these ribozymes in messenger RNA biogenesis.     

Widespread intron loss suggests retrotransposon activity in ancient apicomplexans

Several facets of spliceosomal intron in apicomplexans remain mysterious. First, intron numbers vary across species by 2 orders of magnitude, indicating massive intron loss and/or gain. Second, previous studies have shown very different evolutionary patterns over different timescales, with 100-fold higher rates of intron loss/gain between genera than within genera. Third, the timing and dynamics of nearly complete intron loss in Cryptosporidium species, as well as reasons for retention of the few remaining introns, remain unknown. We compared intron positions in 785 orthologous genes between 3 moderate to intron-rich apicomplexan species. We estimate that the Theileria-Plasmodium ancestor had 4.5 times as many introns as modern Plasmodium species and 38% more than modern Theileria species, and that subsequent intron losses have outnumbered intron gains by 5.8 to 1 in Theileria and by some 56 to 1 in Plasmodium. Several patterns suggest that these intron losses occurred by recombination with reverse-transcribed mRNAs. Intriguingly, this finding suggests significant retrotransposon activity in the lineages leading to both Theileria and Plasmodium, in contrast to the dearth of known retrotransposons and intron loss within modern species from both genera. We also compared genomes from Cryptosporidium parvum and C. hominis and found no evidence of ongoing intron loss, nor of intron gain. By contrast, Cryptosporidium introns are less evolutionary conserved with Toxoplasma than are introns from other apicomplexans; thus the few remaining introns are not simply indispensable ancestral introns.     

Recent intron gain in elongation factor-1alpha of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae)

We discovered the presence of a unique spliceosomal intron in the F1 copy of elongation factor-1alpha (EF-1alpha) restricted to the bee family Colletidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidae). The intron ranges in size from 101 to 1044 bp and shows no positional sliding. Our data also demonstrate the complete absence of this intron from exemplars representing all other bee families, as well as from close hymenopteran relatives. A review of the literature finds that this intron is likewise absent from all other arthropods for which data are available. This provides unambiguous evidence for a relatively recent intron insertion event in the colletid common ancestor and, at least in this specific instance, lends support to the introns-late hypothesis. The comparative distribution of this novel intron also supports the monophyly of Colletidae and the exclusion of the Stenotritidae from this family, providing an example of the potential of some introns to act as robust markers of shared descent.     

嵌合内含子对抗bFGF抗体基因在293T细胞中表达的影响

目的：构建含嵌合内含子和抗bFGF抗体基因的真核表达载体并在293T细胞中表达,探讨嵌合内含子对抗体表达的影响。方法：设计引物分别从载体pCl-neo和pComb3-Fab25中扩增出内含子和抗体Fd段、κ链基因序列,按不同组合构建到含人免疫球蛋白IgG1恒定区Fc段基因的表达载体pIgG中。重组质粒经脂质体PEI转染293T细胞,荧光显微镜观察质粒转染情况,采用夹心ELISA和Western blot检测细胞上清中抗体的表达。结果：DNA测序和酶切分析表明,内含子和抗体基因成功插入pIgG,获得了重组质粒pIgG-Fd-κ、pIgG-Fd-intron-κ、pIgG-Fd-κ-intron和pIgG-Fd-intron-κ-intron。倒置荧光显微镜下可观察EGFP大量表达,Western blot分析上清中有抗体的表达,夹心ELISA检测pIgG-Fd-κ、pIgG-Fd-intron-κ、pIgG-Fd-κ-intron和pIgG-Fd-intron-κ-intron抗体表达量分别为1.21mg/L、0.468mg/L、7.39mg/L、0.601mg/L。结论：成功构建了含嵌合内含子和抗体基因的真核表达载体并在293T细胞中得到表达。嵌合内含子插入κ链基因5’端可提高抗体的表达,插入Fd段5’端则抑制抗体的表达。     

猪MHC-Ⅱ类区DQA新等位基因及新突变位点的发现

根据猪SLA-DQA基因cDNA序列和人HLA-DQA基因组序列设计引物,在猪中成功扩增了一个731bD的片段,该片段包括猪SLA-DQA基因的大部分第2外显子、完整第2内含子和少部分第3外显子,通过克隆和PCR直接测序获得该片段的核苷酸序列。在家系中对第2外显子的核苷酸序列和其编码的α1结构域的氨基酸序列进行了分析,并与GenBank中所有的SLA-DQA第2外显子序列进行比较分析,发现有4个新突变位点和两个新等位基因存在。新等位基因分别是DQA—SLT26和DQA—TC 21—1。DQA—SLT26与单倍型c、d相比有8个核苷酸的差异和4个氨基酸的改变：单倍型c、d在60、65、81、93位的氨基酸分别是Val、Lys、Asp、Lys;而DQA—SLT 26相应的氨基酸是Ala、Glu、Gly、Ile。DQA—TC 21—1与单倍型c、d相比存在1个氨基酸的改变,由单倍型c和d中94位氨基酸His变为Tyr。