title: Cloning, characterization and expression of tyrosinase-like gene in amphioxus Branchiostoma japonicum.
abstract: Prophenoloxidase (tyrosinase) widely distributed in invertebrates and vertebrates, and plays a crucial role in the innate immune. In the present study, the full-length cDNA of a tyrosinase-like (designated AmphiTYR) was cloned from amphioxus Branchiostoma japonicum by PCR techniques. The full-length cDNA of AmphiTYR is 2314 bp, and its predicted open-reading frame codes for a protein of 544 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of approximately 60.9 kDa and an isoelectric point of 5.65. It has a conserved putative copper-binding domain with six histidines in tyrosinase proteins. Six potential N-linked glycosylation sites and 14 conserved cysteine residues were also predicted to be present in B. japonicum tyrosinase. Homology analysis revealed that AmphiTYR was higher similar to vertebrates tyrosinases (32.5-40.5%) than to invertebrates phenoloxidase (6.4-25.4%). In the adult, AmphiTYR mRNA was expressed in the muscle, epidermis, notochord, ovary, hepatic caecum, pharynx and gill, but not in the neural tube, intestines and testis. During the different development stages from unfertilized egg to larvae of amphioxus, AmphiTYR expressed during all the amphioxus development. These results indicated that AmphiTYR gene not only play a pivotal role in innate immune but also play an important role during embryonic development of cephalochordate amphioxus.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, PR China. Electronic address: pangqiuxiang@sina.com.
authors.forename: Qiuxiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Huanhuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Shicui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: XiuFang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Bosheng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D007814:Larva / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010063:Ovum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase