High levels of intra-specific variation in the NG repeat region of thePinctada maximaN66 organic matrix protein

Abstract

There has been wide speculation about the functional importance, and potential contribution to the varying nacre characteristics of pearl oysters, of variation in the length of an asparagine–glycine-rich repeat domain (the NG region) within the key organic matrix proteins nacrein and N66. This speculation has centred on large inter-species differences in the length of the NG protein domain. We report for the first time the presence of significant intra-specific (allelic) polymorphism in both the length and the amino acid sequence of the NG repeat domain of N66 within both wild and hatchery populations of Pinctada maxima. We also detected the presence of a second putative N66-like locus within the P. maxima genome. Confirmation of gene expression of the various alleles at the two loci identified in P. maxima is now required, together with experimental testing of functional differences in the carbonic anhydrase activity of the alleles identified.