Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
4
pubmed:dateCreated
2007-5-4
pubmed:abstractText
Some organisms that experience subzero temperatures, such as insects, fish, bacteria, and plants, synthesize antifreeze proteins (AFPs) that adsorb to surfaces of nascent ice crystals and inhibit their growth. Although some AFPs are globular and nonrepetitive, the majority are repetitive in both sequence and structure. In addition, they are frequently encoded by tandemly arrayed, multigene families. AFP isoforms from the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, are extremely potent and inhibit ice growth at temperatures below -5 degrees C. They contain a 12-amino acid repeat with the sequence TCTxSxxCxxAx, each of which makes up one coil of the beta-helix structure. TxT motifs are arrayed to form the ice-binding surface in all three known insect AFPs: the homologous AFPs from the two beetles, T. molitor and Dendroides canadensis, and the nonhomologous AFP from the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana. In this study, we have obtained the cDNA and genomic sequences of additional T. molitor isoforms. They show variation in the number of repeats (from 6 to 10) which can largely be explained by recombination at various TCT motifs. In addition, phylogenetic comparison of the AFPs from the two beetles suggests that gene loss and amplification may have occurred after the divergence of these species. In contrast to a previous study suggesting that T. molitor genes have undergone positive Darwinian selection (selection for heterogeneity), we propose that the higher than expected ratio of nonsynonymous-to-synonymous substitutions might result from selection for higher AT content in the third codon position.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
0022-2844
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
64
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
387-98
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Amino Acid Sequence, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Amino Acid Substitution, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Animals, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Antifreeze Proteins, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Base Composition, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Base Sequence, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Beetles, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Codon, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Crystallography, X-Ray, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Evolution, Molecular, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Likelihood Functions, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Molecular Sequence Data, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Open Reading Frames, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Phylogeny, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Protein Isoforms, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Protein Structure, Secondary, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Pseudogenes, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Sequence Alignment, pubmed-meshheading:17443386-Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
pubmed:year
2007
pubmed:articleTitle
Evolution of hyperactive, repetitive antifreeze proteins in beetles.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biochemistry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't