Original scientific paper

The Coding Region of the Equinatoxin II Gene Lacks Introns

Gregor Anderluh ; Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 111, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Jože Pungerčar ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Borut Štrukelj ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Peter Maček ; Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 111, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Franc Gubenšek ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract

Sea anemones produce several toxic peptides and proteins. Equi- natoxins (Eqt) isolated from the sea anemone Actinia equina are basic cytolytic proteins with molecular masses of approximately 20 kDa. Of the three Eqt purified so far, Eqtll is the most abundant and well characterized. Its gene organization has not yet been studied. In order to obtain the first information about the Eqtll gene structure and sequence, genomic DNA was isolated from A. equina and the target DNA fragment amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using three different pairs of oligonucleotide primers deduced from the preserved regions of Eqt cDNA clones. The sequence of the PCR product obtained after amplification of genomic DNA, using an oligonucleotide specific for Eqtll, was almost indistinguishable from that of Eqtll cDNA. As the DNA fragments derived from PCR of genomic DNA were of the same length as those from control PCR reactions performed on an A. equina cDNA library and Eqtll cDNA, the Eqtll gene was proved to be in- tronless, at least within the amplified preproprotein region. The presence of such an intronless gene coding for this cytotoxic protein might be explained by the relative low position of cnidarians in the evolutionary tree or by the advantage provided by a potentially higher rate of gene expression.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

136713

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/136713

Publication date:

1.9.1995.

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