title: Cloning and characterization of nanos gene in silkworm Bombyx mori.
abstract: Gene nanos is a maternal posterior group gene required for normal development of abdominal segments and the germ line in Drosophila. Expression of nanos-related genes is associated with the germ line in a broad variety of other taxa. In this study, the 5'-RACE method and the in silico cloning method are used to isolate the new nanos-like gene of Bombyx mori and the gene obtained is analyzed with bioinformatics tools. The putative protein is expressed in Escherichia coli and the antiserum has been produced in New Zealand white rabbits. The result shows that the nanos cDNA is 1,913 bp in full length and contains a 954 bp open reading frame. The deduced protein has 317 amino acid residues, with a predicted molecular weight of 35 kDa, isoelectric point of 5. 38, and contains a conserved nanos RNA binding domain. The conserved region of the deduced protein shares 73% homology with the nanos protein conserved region of Honeybee (Apis mellifera). This gene has been registered in the GenBank under the accession number EF647589. One encoding sequence of the nanos fragment has been successfully expressed in E. coli. Western blotting analysis indicates that homemade antiserum can specifically detect nanos protein expressed in prokaryotic cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
authors.forename: Guoli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Keping
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D012831:Bombyx / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019295:Computational Biology; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000276:immunology; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D007106:Immune Sera; D019476:Insect Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors