title: There is an alpha-actin skeletal muscle-specific gene in a salamander (Pleurodeles waltlii).
abstract: We cloned, from a cDNA library, an alpha-actin sequence from a salamander (Pleurodeles waltlii), which codes for the 125 COOH-terminal amino acid residues of a skeletal muscle actin (without any difference from the corresponding protein of warm blood vertebrates). An important conservation in the 3' untranslated region between this sequence and skeletal alpha-actin genes of chicken and man was noted. These results demonstrate, contrary to what was thought previously, that there exists in salamander a true skeletal alpha-actin gene. The results suggest that striated muscle actin genes in lower vertebrates could be a mosaic of cardiac and skeletal-specific amino acid residues, and that the divergence between these two types of genes is older than the NH2-terminal analysis of actins suggested previously.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khrestchatisky
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fontes
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA; D005796:Genes; D009132:Muscles / Q000032:analysis*; D010999:Pleurodeles / Q000235:genetics*; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012455:Salamandridae / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D004247:DNA