title: Characterization and expression of p23 gene in the amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri.
abstract: The cDNA AmphiP23, encoding an amphioxus p23, was identified from the gut cDNA library of amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri. It contains a 513 bp open reading frame corresponding to a deduced protein of 170 amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis shows that vertebrate and invertebrate p23/p23-like proteins are each grouped together, with AmphiP23 falling at the base of vertebrate p23/p23-like clade, suggesting that the divergence of vertebrate and invertebrate p23 genes probably occurs prior to the split of invertebrate/vertebrate from a common ancestor around 550 million years ago. Northern blotting reveals a ubiquitous expression pattern of AmphiP23 in all adult tissues examined, while whole mount in situ hybridization demonstrates a tissue- and stage-specific expression pattern of AmphiP23 in developing embryos and larvae. Presumably, the ubiquitous expression pattern of AmphiP23 in adult amphioxus represents the ancestral type of p23 gene prior to its split to human paralogs p23 and tsp23, while the tissue- and stage-specific expression pattern during early embryonic development implicates a role of AmphiP23 in anterior/posterior patterning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biology, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao 266003, PR China.
authors.forename: Bosheng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Shicui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yongjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhenhui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Dexin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D043344:Chordata / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D018832:Molecular Chaperones