Generation of expressed sequence tags for immune gene discovery and marker development in the sea squirt, Halocynthia roretzi.
Expresssed sequence tag (EST) analysis was developed from three cDNA libraries constructed from cells of the digestive tract, gonad, and liver of sea squirt. Randomly selected cDNA clones were partially sequenced to generate a total of 922 ESTs, in which 687 unique ESTs were identified respectively. Results of BLASTX search showed that 612 ESTs (89%) have homology to genes of known function whereas 75 ESTs (11%) were unidentified or novel. Based on the major function of their encoded proteins, the identified clones were classified into ten broad categories. We also identified several kinds of immune-related genes as identifying novel genes. Sequence analysis of ESTs revealed the presence of microsatellite-containing genes that may be valuable for further gene mapping studies. The accumulation of a large number of identified cDNA clones is invaluable for the study of sea squirt genetics and developmental biology. Further studies using cDNA microarrays are needed to identify the differentially expressed transcripts after disease infection.
Biotechnology Research Institute, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Busan 619-902, Korea. yobest@gmail.com
Young-Ok
YO
Kim
Hyun Kook
HK
Cho
Eun-Mi
EM
Park
Bo-Hye
BH
Nam
Young Baek
YB
Hur
Sang-Jun
SJ
Lee
JaeHun
J
Cheong
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015723:Gene Library; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D054464:Peroxiredoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014561:Urochordata / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
D011506:Proteins; D054464:Peroxiredoxins