Occurrence of a Silicatein Gene in Glass Sponges (Hexactinellida: Porifera)
- 23 December 2010
- journal article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Marine Biotechnology
- Vol. 13 (4), 810-819
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-010-9343-6
Abstract
Silicatein genes are involved in spicule formation in demosponges (Demospongiae: Porifera). However, numerous attempts to isolate silicatein genes from glass sponges (Hexactinellida: Porifera) resulted in a limited success. In the present investigation, we performed analysis of potential silicatein/cathepsin transcripts in three different species of glass sponges (Pheronema raphanus, Aulosaccus schulzei, and Bathydorus levis). In total, 472 clones of such transcripts have been analyzed. Most of them represent cathepsin transcripts and only three clones have been found to represent transcripts, which can be related to silicateins. Silicatein transcripts were identified in A. schulzei (Hexactinellida; Lyssacinosida; Rosselidae), and the corresponding gene was called AuSil-Hexa. Expression of AuSil-Hexa in A. schulzei was confirmed by real-time PCR. Comparative sequence analysis indicates high sequence identity of the A. schulzei silicatein with demosponge silicateins described previously. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that the AuSil-Hexa protein belongs to silicateins. However, the AuSil-Hexa protein contains a catalytic cysteine instead of the conventional serine.Keywords
This publication has 29 references indexed in Scilit:
- Silicatein Genes in Spicule-Forming and Nonspicule-forming Pacific DemospongesMarine Biotechnology, 2009
- Silicatein expression in the hexactinellid Crateromorpha meyeri: the lead marker gene restricted to siliceous spongesCell and tissue research, 2008
- Crystal structure and silica condensing activities of silicatein α–cathepsin L chimerasChemical Communications, 2008
- Identification of a silicatein(-related) protease in the giant spicules of the deep-sea hexactinellidMonorhaphis chuniJournal of Experimental Biology, 2008
- A modern approach to demineralization of spicules in glass sponges (Porifera: Hexactinellida) for the purpose of extraction and examination of the protein matrixRussian Journal of Marine Biology, 2006
- Biosilica formation in spicules of the sponge Suberites domuncula: Synchronous expression of a gene clusterGenomics, 2005
- ProtTest: selection of best-fit models of protein evolutionBioinformatics, 2005
- Differentiation capacity of epithelial cells in the sponge Suberites domunculaCell and tissue research, 2004
- Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programsNucleic Acids Research, 1997
- Alignment/Phylogeny of the Papain Superfamily of Cysteine ProteasesJournal of Molecular Biology, 1995