title: Characterization and differential expression analysis of Toxocara canis aquaporin-1 gene.
abstract: Toxocara canis is an intestinal nematode of canids with a worldwide distribution, causing an important but neglected parasitic zoonosis in humans. Aquaporins (AQP) are a family of water channel proteins, which function as membrane channels to regulate water homeostasis. In this study, the coding sequence of aquaporin-1 gene of T. canis (Tc-aqp-1) was cloned and characterized. The obtained Tc-aqp-1 coding sequence was 933 bp in length, which predicted to encode 311 amino acids. Two conserved asparagine-proline-alanine (NPA) motifs were identified in the multiple sequence alignments. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the closest relationship between T. canis and Opisthorchis viverrini based on aquaporin-1 amino acid sequence. A structure was predicted with ligand binding sites predicted at H93, N95, N226, L94, I79, and I210 and with active sites predicted at I256 and G207. Gene Ontology (GO) annotations predicted its cellular component term of integral component of plasma membrane (GO: 0005887), molecular function term of channel activity (GO: 0015250), and biological process term of water transport (GO: 0006833). Tissue expression analysis revealed that the Tc-aqp-1 was highly expressed in the intestine of adult male. The findings of the present study provide the basis for further functional studies of T. canis aquaporin-1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rongchang Campus, Southwest University, Chongqing, 402460, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yong-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rongchang Campus, Southwest University, Chongqing, 402460, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rongchang Campus, Southwest University, Chongqing, 402460, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guang-Xu
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rongchang Campus, Southwest University, Chongqing, 402460, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yong-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rongchang Campus, Southwest University, Chongqing, 402460, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Sha-Sha
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rongchang Campus, Southwest University, Chongqing, 402460, The People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730046, The People's Republic of China. xingquanzhu1@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Rongchang Campus, Southwest University, Chongqing, 402460, The People's Republic of China. rongqiongzhou@126.com.
authors.forename: Rong-Qiong
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D051398:Aquaporin 1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry; D009891:Opisthorchis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017166:Toxocara canis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; C550288:asparagine-proline-alanine; D051398:Aquaporin 1
keywords: Aquaporins; Prediction of structure and function; Tissue expression; Toxocara canis