title: Characterization of CG6178 gene product with high sequence similarity to firefly luciferase in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: This is the first identification of a long-chain fatty acyl-CoA synthetase in Drosophila by enzymatic characterization. The gene product of CG6178 (CG6178) in Drosophila melanogaster genome, which has a high sequence similarity to firefly luciferase, has been expressed and characterized. CG6178 showed long-chain fatty acyl-CoA synthetic activity in the presence of ATP, CoA and Mg(2+), suggesting a fatty acyl adenylate is an intermediate. Recently, it was revealed that firefly luciferase has two catalytic functions, monooxygenase (luciferase) and AMP-mediated CoA ligase (fatty acyl-CoA synthetase). However, unlike firefly luciferase, CG6178 did not show luminescence activity in the presence of firefly luciferin, ATP, CoA and Mg(2+). The enzymatic properties of CG6178 including substrate specificity, pH dependency and optimal temperature were close to those of firefly luciferase and rat fatty acyl-CoA synthetase. Further, phylogenic analyses strongly suggest that the firefly luciferase gene may have evolved from a fatty acyl-CoA synthetase gene as a common ancestral gene.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oba
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ojika
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Inouye
mesh_terms: D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002264:Carboxylic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D003066:Coenzyme A Ligases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000201:enzymology; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008156:Luciferases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D002264:Carboxylic Acids; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D008156:Luciferases; D003066:Coenzyme A Ligases; C488249:CG6178 protein, Drosophila