title: Identification and characterization of a serine hydroxymethyltransferase isoform in Caenorhabditis briggsae.
abstract: In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the maternal effect lethal gene mel-32 encodes a serine hydroxymethyltransferase isoform. Since interspecies DNA comparison is a valuable tool for identifying sequences that have been conserved because of their functional importance or role in regulating gene activity, mel-32(SHMT) genomic DNA from C. elegans was used to screen a genomic library from the closely related nematode Caenorhabditis briggsae. The C. briggsae genomic clone identified fully rescues the Mel-32 phenotype in C. elegans, indicating functional and regulatory conservation. Computer analysis reveals that CbMEL-32(SHMT) is 92% identical (97% similar) to CeMEL-32(SHMT) at the amino acid level over the entire length of the protein (484 amino acids), whereas the coding DNA is 82.5% identical (over 1455 nucleotides). Several highly conserved non-coding regions upstream and downstream of the mel-32(SHMT) gene reveal potential regulatory sites that may bind trans-acting protein factors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Vatcher
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Barbazuk
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: O'Neil
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Marra
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Baillie
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D005091:Exons; D012696:Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D007438:Introns; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D015801:Helminth Proteins; D012696:Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase