Genomic structure of the luciferase gene and phylogenetic analysis in the Hotaria-group fireflies.
The luminescent fireflies have species specific flash patterns, being recognized as sexual communication. The luciferase gene is the sole enzyme responsible for bioluminescence. We describe here the complete nucleotide sequence and the exon-intron structure of the luciferase gene of the Hotaria-group fireflies, H. unmunsana, H. papariensis and H. tsushimana. The luciferase gene of the Hotaria-group firefly including the known H. parvula spans 1950 bp and consisted of six introns and seven exons coding for 548 amino acid residues, suggesting highly conserved structure among the Hotaria-group fireflies. Although only one luciferase gene was cloned from H. papariensis, each of the two sequences of the gene was found in H. unmunsana (U1 and Uc) and H. tsushimana (T1 and T2). The amino acid sequence divergence among H. unmunsana, H. papariensis, and H. tsushimana only ranged from zero to three amino acid residues, but H. parvula differed by 10-11 amino acid residues from the other Hotaria-group fireflies, suggesting a divergent relationship of this species. Phylogenetic analysis using the deduced amino acid sequences of the luciferase gene resulted in a monophyletic group in the Hotaria excluding H. parvula, suggesting a close relationship among H. unmunsana, H. papariensis and H. tsushimana. Additionally, we also analyzed the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene of the Hotaria-group fireflies. The deduced amino acid sequence of the COI gene of H. unmunsana was identical to that of H. papariensis and H. tsushimana, but different by three positions from H. parvula. In terms of nucleotide sequences of the COI gene, intraspecific sequence divergence was sometimes larger than interspecies level, and phylogenetic analysis placed the three species into monophyletic groups unresolved among them, but excluded H. parvula. In conclusion, our results suggest that H. unmunsana, H. papariensis and H. tsushimana are very closely related or might be an identical species, at least based on the luciferase and COI genes.
Choi
Yong Soo
YS
College of Natural Resources and Life Science, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, South Korea.
Bae
Jin Sik
JS
Lee
Kwang Sik
KS
Kim
Seong Ryul
SR
Kim
Iksoo
I
Kim
Jong Gill
JG
Kim
Keun Young
KY
Kim
Sam Eun
SE
Suzuki
Hirobumi
H
Lee
Sang Mong
SM
Sohn
Hung Dae
HD
Jin
Byung Rae
BR
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics; D008156:Luciferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017385:Sequence Homology
D008156:Luciferases