title: Characterization and tissue-specific expression of phosphatidylcholine transfer protein gene from amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri.
abstract: An amphioxus cDNA, encoding phosphatidylcholine transfer protein (AmphiPCTP), was identified for the first time from the gut cDNA library of Branchiostoma belcheri. It contains a 660-bp open reading frame corresponding to a deduced protein of 219 amino acids. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that AmphiPCTP clustered with PCTP subgroup of PCTP subfamily containing steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR)-related lipid transfer (START) domains. AmphiPCTP had an exon-intron organization similar to that of human and rat PCTP genes in terms of both exon number and sequence homology of each exon, suggesting that PCTP has probably maintained a similar function in both amphioxus and mammalian species. Both in situ hybridization histochemistry and whole-mount in situ hybridization revealed a tissue-specific expression pattern of AmphiPCTP with the high levels in the hepatic caecum and primitive gut, including the region where the hepatic caecum will form later during development. This apparently agrees with the hypothesis that amphioxus hepatic caecum is equivalent to vertebrate liver. These results suggest a conserved role of PCTPs in amphioxus as well as mammalian species.
authors: Department of Marine Biology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.
authors: Jianxiao
authors: J
authors: Tian
authors: Shicui
authors: S
authors: Zhang
authors: Zhenhui
authors: Z
authors: Liu
authors: Yunyun
authors: Y
authors: Zhuang
authors: Yongjun
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Shengjuan
authors: S
authors: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D043344:Chordata / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005091:Exons; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015723:Gene Library; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D049294:Phospholipid Transfer Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D010802:Phylogeny; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D049294:Phospholipid Transfer Proteins; D011493:Protein Kinase C