title: Cloning and phylogenetic analysis of an amphioxus myogenic bHLH gene AmphiMDF.
abstract: In this study, a member of the MyoD gene family, AmphiMDF, was isolated from the embryos of amphioxus by degenerate PCR, followed by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). Southern blot analysis confirmed that only a single myogenic bHLH gene was present in the genome of amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses indicated that AmphiMDF falls at the base of its vertebrate homologs. The amino acid sequence of AmphiMDF was almost equally similar to those of the four clusters of the vertebrate MyoD family. This suggests that AmphiMDF is not only the sister but also the archetype of the vertebrate myogenic bHLH genes. The scenarios to explain the origin of the vertebrate MyoD gene family from the ancestral myogenic bHLH gene like AmphiMDF are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biology, Ocean University of Qingdao, 266003, Qingdao, PR China.
authors.forename: Jinduo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Shicui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhenhui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhidong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.forename: Gengxi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020440:Gene Duplication; D018257:Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000196:embryology; D017570:MyoD Protein / Q000235:genetics; D018006:Myogenic Regulatory Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D017570:MyoD Protein; D018006:Myogenic Regulatory Factors