CLONING AND COMPARISON OF THE GENES ENCODING PREPROAPAMIN FROM THE VENOM OF 2 HONEYBEE AND 4 WASP SPECIES

Abstract Preproapamin genes were amplified by RT-PCR from total RNA from the venom glands of 2 honeybee species, Apis mellifera, A. cerana cerana , and 4 wasp species, Vespa magnifica, V. velutina nigrothorax and Polistes hebraeus , respectively. Their PCR products were ligated into pGEM^® -T easy vector and the nucleotide sequences analyzed. The six fragments were all 141 bp in length and contained an ORF coding the precursor of apamin. The apamin precursors of V. magnifica, V. velutina nigrothorax and P. hebraeus had 95% and 93% similarity with that of A. melliera in nucleotide and amino acid sequences, respectively. That of Vespula maculifrons was identical to that of A. mellifera in nucleotide and amino acid sequences. Apamin precursors of V. magnifica, P. hebraeus and V. velutina nigrothorax also had the same nucleotide sequences. The nucleotide sequences of preproapamin genes from the Chinese honeybee, A. cerana cerana and 4 wasp species are described for the first time. A notable discovery was that the wasps species had exactly same apamins as the honeybees despite the fact they belong to different insect families.