title: Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the Japanese fireflies Luciola lateralis and Luciola cruciata.
abstract: Species-specific flash patterns in firefly species are important for the investigation of the evolution of Lampyridae. Since nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is one of the key enzymes controlling flash patterns, we determined the cDNA sequences of NOS in the Japanese fireflies Luciola lateralis and L. cruciata. The identity of the NOS sequences was very high between these 2 species. Firefly NOS also exhibited a high identity with those of other insect species, and the cofactor-binding domains were particularly well conserved. Many negatively selected sites were detected throughout the NOS sequences; however, no positive selection was detected. The phylogenetic relationship of insect NOS was different from that of the general classification system, although the lineages corresponded to the major recognized taxonomic groups.
authors.affiliation: Division of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. ohtsuki@mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohtsuki
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Nobuyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohba
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohmiya
authors.forename: Masakado
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawata
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D048888:Fireflies / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase