Isolation and sequencing of doublesex/male abnormal 3 (DM) related transcription factor (Dmrt) genes from the Asian toad Bufo gargarizans (Cantor, 1842)

Wen Chen,Ping-Ping Zheng,Liu-Wang Nie

doi:10.1590/s1415-47572007000600026

Abstract

The doublesex/male abnormal 3 (dsx/mab-3 or DM) domain gene family involved in sexual development encodes putative transcription factors including a DNA-binding homology motif, the DM domain. We used highly degenerate primers to clone and sequence seven distinct DM related transcription factor (Dmrt) genes from the Asian toad (Bufo gargarizans Cantor, 1842). A database search for the cloned sequences revealed the following percentage identity with the homologous Dmrt genes of the human: BgDmrt1 = 97%, BgDmrt2 = 97%, three isoforms of BgDmrt3 (BgDmrt3a = 93%, BgDmrt3b = 95%, BgDmrt3c = 100%) and two isoforms of BgDmrt5 (BgDmrt5 = 97%, BgDmrt5 = 91%). Based on DM domain amino acid sequence similarities we constructed a phylogenetic tree which grouped vertebrate and invertebrate Dmrt genes into seven distinct subfamilies. The DM domains of both human and the newly-discovered Bufo gargarizans genes contained two conserved zinc-chelating sites (CCHC and HCCC), except BgDmrt3b, which contained the CCRC and HCCC sites.

Highlights

The doublesex/male abnormal 3 domain gene family involved in sexual development encodes putative transcription factors including a DNA-binding homology motif, the Doublesex/male abnormal 3 (DM) domain
The DM domain gene family has some members with a conserved DNA-binding DM domain encoding putative transcription factors related to the sexual regulators Doublesex (DSX) from Drosophila melanogaster and Male abnormal 3 (MAB-3) from Caenorhabditis elegans (Erdman and Burtis, 1993; Raymond et al, 1998)
In the present paper we report the cloning and nucleotide sequencing of seven different DM related transcription factor (Dmrt) genes from B. gargarizans

Summary

Introduction

The doublesex/male abnormal 3 (dsx/mab-3 or DM) domain gene family involved in sexual development encodes putative transcription factors including a DNA-binding homology motif, the DM domain. The DM domain gene family has some members with a conserved DNA-binding DM domain encoding putative transcription factors related to the sexual regulators Doublesex (DSX) from Drosophila melanogaster and Male abnormal 3 (MAB-3) from Caenorhabditis elegans (Erdman and Burtis, 1993; Raymond et al, 1998).

Results

Conclusion