Isolation of a putative collagen-like gene from the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus.
Using a Caenorhabditis elegans collagen probe we have isolated a 17.6 kb clone from a Paracentrotus lividus genomic library. Sequencing of nearly 2.6 kb identified five open reading frames flanked at both sides by splice site consensus sequences and coding for ninety-five uninterrupted Gly-X-Y repeats. Interestingly, three of the putative exons exhibit sizes which are identical to those featured by vertebrate fibrillar collagen genes, namely 54 bp and 99 bp. Hybridization of the Gly-X-Y encoding sequences to RNA extracted from different developmental stages identified a specific 6 kb transcript, which appears first at mid-gastrula, greatly increases at prism and then progressively accumulates until pluteus stage. Based on these data, we conclude that the genomic clone is likely to code for a developmentally regulated mRNA whose expression coincides with the reported time of appearance of collagenous molecules in the sea urchin embryo.
Saitta
B
B
Istituto di Biologia dello Sviluppo del C.N.R. Palermo, Italy.
Buttice
G
G
Gambino
R
R
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics; D003094:Collagen / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015342:DNA Probes; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D005091:Exons; D005775:Gastrula / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*
D015342:DNA Probes; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D003094:Collagen; D004247:DNA; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes