title: Duplicated gelsolin family genes in zebrafish: a novel scinderin-like gene (scinla) encodes the major corneal crystallin.
abstract: We have previously identified a gelsolin-like protein (C/L-gelsolin) as a corneal crystallin in zebrafish. Here we show by phylogenetic analysis that there are at least six genes encoding gelsolin-like proteins based on their gelsolin domains in zebrafish: gsna and gsnb group with the vertebrate gelsolin gene, scina and scinb group with the scinderin (adseverin) gene, and scinla (C/L-gelsolin) and scinlb are novel scinderin-like genes. RT-PCR showed that scinla, scinlb, and gsnb are preferentially expressed in the adult cornea whereas gsna is expressed to a similar extent in cornea, lens, brain, and heart; scina and scinb expression were detectable only in whole zebrafish and not in these adult tissues. Quantitative RT-PCR and 2-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by MALDI/TOF mass spectroscopy confirmed high expression of beta-actin and scinla, moderate expression of scinlb, and very low expression of gsna and gsnb in the cornea. Finally, transgenic zebrafish carrying a green fluorescent protein reporter transgene driven by a 4 kb scinla promoter fragment showed expression in the cornea, snout, dorsal fin, and tail fin of 3-day-old zebrafish larvae. Our data suggest that scinla and scinlb are diverged paralogs of the vertebrate scinderin gene and show that scinla encodes the zebrafish corneal crystallin previously called C/L-gelsolin.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Development Biology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, 7 Memorial Dr., Bldg. 7, Rm. 100, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Sujuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Omelchenko
authors.forename: Donita
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garland
authors.forename: Vasilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vasiliou
authors.forename: Jyotshnabala
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kanungo
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koonin
authors.forename: Joram
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piatigorsky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D003315:Cornea / Q000737:chemistry*; D003459:Crystallins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018260:Gelsolin / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020440:Gene Duplication; D006801:Humans; D008845:Microinjections; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003459:Crystallins; D018260:Gelsolin; C525449:Scinla protein, zebrafish; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; C065395:scinderin