Potential regulatory elements of nematode vitellogenin genes revealed by interspecies sequence comparison |
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Authors: | Erin Zucker-Aprison Thomas Blumenthal |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, Indiana University, 47405 Bloomington, Indiana, USA |
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Abstract: | Summary The nematode,Caenorhabditis elegans, has a six-member gene family encoding vitellogenins, the yolk protein precursors. These genes are expressed exclusively
in the intestine of the adult hermaphrodite. Here we report the cloning of all five members of the homologous gene family
from anotherCaenorhabditis species,Caenorhabditis briggsae. Nucleotide sequence analysis of these genes reveals they are about 85% identical to theC. elegans genes in the coding regions. Oveerall similarity is much reduced in noncoding and flanking regions. However, two repeated
heptamers, previously identified in the upstream regions of theC. elegans genes, are largely conserved in both location and sequence inC. briggsae. Conservation of certain of these heptamers suggests that proteins bound at these positions may be especially important to
promoter function and/or regulation. Comparative sequence analysis also suggests the possibility that the first 70 bases of
the vitellogenin mRNAs can be folded into stable secondary structures. Almost all base differences between the two species
occur in sequences predicted to be unpaired, suggesting that the ability to form intrastrand base pairs has been selected
duringCaenorhabditis evolution. |
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Keywords: | Caenorhabditis elegans mRNA structure Eucaryotic promoters |
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