comparative genomic analysis of chitinase and chitinase-like genes in the african malaria mosquito (anopheles gambiae)比较基因组分析的几丁质酶和chitinase-like基因在非洲疟疾蚊子(冈比亚疟蚊).pdf

Comparative Genomic Analysis of Chitinase and Chitinase-Like Genes in the African Malaria Mosquito (Anopheles gambiae) 1,2 2 3,4 3 3 Jianzhen Zhang , Xin Zhang , Yasuyuki Arakane , Subbaratnam Muthukrishnan , Karl J. Kramer , 1 2 Enbo Ma , Kun Yan Zhu * 1 Research Institute of Applied Biology, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China, 2 Department of Entomology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, United States of America, 3 Department of Biochemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, United States of America, 4 Division of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea Abstract Chitinase is an important enzyme responsible for chitin metabolism in a wide range of organisms including bacteria, yeasts and other fungi, nematodes and arthropods. However, current knowledge on chitinolytic enzymes, especially their structures, functions and regulation is very limited. In this study we have identified 20 chitinase and chitinase-like genes in the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, through genome-wide searching and transcript profiling. We assigned these genes into eight different chitinase groupings (groups I–VIII). Domain analysis of their predicted proteins showed that all contained at least one catalytic domain. However, only seven (AgCht4, AgCht5-1, AgCht6, AgCht7, AgCht8, AgCht10 and AgCht23) displayed one or more chitin-binding domains. Analyses of stage- and tissue-specific gene expression revealed that most of these genes were expressed in larval stages. However, AgCht8 was mainly expressed in the pupal and adult stages. AgCht2