RESUMEN
Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) produces nitric oxide (NO) by catalyzing the conversion of l-arginine to l-citrulline, with the concomitant oxidation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. Recently, various studies have verified the importance of NOS invertebrates and invertebrates. However, the NOS gene family in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense is poorly understood. In this study, we cloned the full-length NOS complementary DNA from M. nipponense (MnNOS) and characterized its expression pattern in different tissues and at different developmental stages. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) showed the MnNOS gene to be expressed in all investigated tissues, with the highest levels observed in the androgenic gland (P < 0.05). Our results revealed that the MnNOS gene may play a key role in M. nipponense male sexual differentiation. Moreover, RT-qPCR revealed that MnNOS mRNA expression was significantly increased in post-larvae 10 days after metamorphosis (P < 0.05). The expression of this gene in various tissues indicates that it may perform versatile biological functions in M. nipponense.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de Artrópodos/genética , Regulación del Desarrollo de la Expresión Génica , Óxido Nítrico Sintasa/genética , Palaemonidae/genética , Secuencia de Aminoácidos , Animales , Proteínas de Artrópodos/metabolismo , Secuencia de Bases , China , Clonación Molecular , Conservación de los Recursos Naturales , ADN Complementario/genética , ADN Complementario/metabolismo , Embrión no Mamífero , Femenino , Larva/genética , Larva/crecimiento & desarrollo , Masculino , Óxido Nítrico Sintasa/metabolismo , Técnicas de Amplificación de Ácido Nucleico , Especificidad de Órganos , Palaemonidae/clasificación , Palaemonidae/crecimiento & desarrollo , Filogenia , Ríos , Alineación de Secuencia , Homología de Secuencia de AminoácidoRESUMEN
Broad-Complex (BR-C) is an early ecdysone-responsive gene encoding a family of zinc-finger transcription factors. In this study, we isolated the full-length cDNA of a BR-C homolog from the testes of the oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense), according to established expressed sequence tag information, using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends technique. The homolog was designated as MnBR-C. The full-length cDNA of MnBR-C contained a 1095-bp open reading frame encoding a precursor protein of 365 amino acid residues. Comparative and bioinformatic analyses revealed that MnBR-C exhibited a high degree of homology with BR-C proteins, and contained the BTB and Zf-H2C2-2 domains. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis revealed that the MnBR-C expression level varied significantly in the developing embryo, postembryonic larva, and adult tissue. Real-time qPCR showed that the MnBR-C gene was expressed in all of the tissues investigated, with the highest level of expression in the brain. In addition, MnBR-C was more abundantly expressed in the testes than in the ovaries.