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PMID: 6317873 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Evolution of alpha q- and beta-tubulin genes as inferred by the nucleotide sequences of sea urchin cDNA clones.

Journal of molecular evolution ·Vol. 19 ·No. 6 ·1983-00-00 ·Pages 397-410

Alexandraki D, Ruderman JV

Abstract

Evolutionary studies on the tubulin multigene families were initiated by nucleotide sequence analysis of cDNA clones complementary to sea urchin (Lytechinus pictus) testis alpha- and beta-tubulin cDNA clones (p beta 1, p beta 2, p beta e) demonstrated the existence of tubulin mRNA heterogeneity. p beta 2 and p beta 3 contain identical tubulin-coding regions and extremely similar 3' untranslated sequences, including a polyadenylation signal (AAUAAA). However, p beta 2 contains an additional region of 3' untranslated sequence which includes a second polyadenylation signal. These two sequences may be allelic, representing products of alternative transcription termination or processing pathways. p beta 1 and p beta 2 (or p beta 3) cDNAs almost certainly correspond to transcripts of distinct but evolutionarily related genes. Examination of the available coding portions showed that they differ only by a few silent nucleotide substitutions and the deletion/insertion of one codon; most of the differences are clustered within the last 15 3'-end codons. In contrast, their 3' untranslated sequences are considerably divergent. Nucleotide alignment in this region was feasible by considering specific point and segmental mutations, mainly T in equilibrium or formed from C transitions and small deletions/insertions associated with small direct repeats. The sea urchin alpha- and beta-tubulin cDNA and corresponding protein sequences were compared with previously described tubulin cDNA and protein sequences from other organisms. Both alpha and beta tubulins are very conserved proteins, evolving with a rate comparable to that of histones. Analysis of the nucleotide divergence of the coding cDNA regions showed that replacement sites have changed with a rate 20-175 times lower than that of the silent sites. Among the 177 codons compared between the sea urchin testis and chick brain beta-tubulin cDNAs, there are 7 conservative amino acid replacements and the deletion/insertion of two codons. Most of these changes are clustered near the C-terminus. The 161-amino acid portion of chick brain, rat and porcine alpha-tubulin sequences differs by 3 conservative amino acid replacements from the corresponding sea urchin testis alpha-tubulin sequence. The compared interspecies 3' untranslated sequences are very divergent.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Animals Base Sequence Biological Evolution Cloning, Molecular DNA/metabolism DNA Restriction Enzymes Genes Plasmids RNA, Messenger/genetics Sea Urchins/genetics Tubulin/genetics
Chemicals
RNA, Messenger Tubulin DNA DNA Restriction Enzymes
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Alexandraki D
Ruderman J V
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Article Info
Journal
Journal of molecular evolution
Abbr.
J Mol Evol
ISSN
0022-2844
DOI
10.1007/BF02102315
Published
1983-00-00
Pages
397-410
Language
English
Region
Germany
NLM ID
0360051
Subset
IM
Grants
NICHD NIH HHS · HD 15351 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1007/BF02102315 View journal details
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