title: In silico identification of BESS-DC genes and expression analysis in the silkworm, Bombyx mori.
abstract: BESS domain is a protein binding domain that can interact each other or with other domains. In this study, 323 BESS domain containing (BESS-DC) proteins were identified in 3328 proteomes. These BESS-DC genes pertain to 41 species of five phyla, most of which are arthropod insects. A BESS domain contains two α-helixes linked by a coil or β-turn. Phylogenetic tree and architecture analysis show that the BESS domain seems to generate along with the DNA-binding MADF domain. Two hundred thirty three BESS-DC genes (71.1%) contain at least one MADF domain, while 59 genes (18.2%) had only the BESS domain. In addition to BESS and MADF domains, some of genes also contain other ligand binding domains, such as DAO, DUS and NAD_C. Nineteen genes (5.8%) are associated with other DNA binding domains, such as Myb and BED. The BESS-DC genes can be divided into 17 subfamilies, eight of which have more than one clade. In Bombyx mori, 12 BESS-DC genes that do not contain intron in the BESS domain region were localized to eight chromosomes. Real-time PCR results showed that most of the B. mori BESS-DC genes highly expressed from late larval stage to adult stage. The results of sequence comparison and evolution analyses suggest a hypothesis that the BESS-DC genes may play a role in central nervous system development, long term memory and metamorphosis of insects of different phyla.
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China.
authors.forename: Zhongchen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, 400716, China.
authors.forename: Qingyou
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China. Electronic address: qlfeng@scnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qili
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D012831:Bombyx / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D059006:Chromosomes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins
keywords: BESS domain; Bioinformatics; Bombyx mori; Expression; Protein–protein interaction