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The mammary gland-specific marsupial ELP and eutherian CTI share a common ancestral gene.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The marsupial early lactation protein (ELP) gene is expressed in the mammary gland and the protein is secreted into milk during early lactation (Phase 2A). Mature ELP shares approximately 55.4% similarity with the colostrum-specific bovine colostrum trypsin inhibitor (CTI) protein. Although ELP and CTI both have a single bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI)-Kunitz domain and are secreted only during the early lactation phases, their evolutionary history is yet to be investigated. RESULTS: Tammar ELP was isolated from a genomic library and the fat-tailed dunnart and Southern koala ELP genes cloned from genomic DNA. The tammar ELP gene was expressed only in the mammary gland during late pregnancy (Phase 1) and early lactation (Phase 2A). The opossum and fat-tailed dunnart ELP and cow CTI transcripts were cloned from RNA isolated from the mammary gland and dog CTI from cells in colostrum. The putative mature ELP and CTI peptides shared 44.6%-62.2% similarity. In silico analyses identified the ELP and CTI genes in the other species examined and provided compelling evidence that they evolved from a common ancestral gene. In addition, whilst the eutherian CTI gene was conserved in the Laurasiatherian orders Carnivora and Cetartiodactyla, it had become a pseudogene in others. These data suggest that bovine CTI may be the ancestral gene of the Artiodactyla-specific, rapidly evolving chromosome 13 pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (PTI), spleen trypsin inhibitor (STI) and the five placenta-specific trophoblast Kunitz domain protein (TKDP1-5) genes. CONCLUSIONS: Marsupial ELP and eutherian CTI evolved from an ancestral therian mammal gene before the divergence of marsupials and eutherians between 130 and 160 million years ago. The retention of the ELP gene in marsupials suggests that this early lactation-specific milk protein may have an important role in the immunologically naïve young of these species.

SUBMITTER: Pharo EA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3426482 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The mammary gland-specific marsupial ELP and eutherian CTI share a common ancestral gene.

Pharo Elizabeth A EA De Leo Alison A AA Renfree Marilyn B MB Thomson Peter C PC Lefèvre Christophe M CM Nicholas Kevin R KR

BMC evolutionary biology 20120608

<h4>Background</h4>The marsupial early lactation protein (ELP) gene is expressed in the mammary gland and the protein is secreted into milk during early lactation (Phase 2A). Mature ELP shares approximately 55.4% similarity with the colostrum-specific bovine colostrum trypsin inhibitor (CTI) protein. Although ELP and CTI both have a single bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI)-Kunitz domain and are secreted only during the early lactation phases, their evolutionary history is yet to be inve ...[more]

PMID: 22681678

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Project description:Carboxylesterases (CES) perform diverse metabolic roles in mammalian organisms in the detoxification of a broad range of drugs and xenobiotics and may also serve in specific roles in lipid, cholesterol, pheromone and lung surfactant metabolism. Five CES families have been reported in mammals with human CES1 and CES2 the most extensively studied. Here we describe the genetics, expression and phylogeny of CES isozymes in the opossum and report on the sequences and locations of CES1, CES2 and CES6 'like' genes within two gene clusters on chromosome one. We also discuss the likely sequence of gene duplication events generating multiple CES genes during vertebrate evolution.We report a cDNA sequence for an opossum CES and present evidence for CES1 and CES2 like genes expressed in opossum liver and intestine and for distinct gene locations of five opossum CES genes,CES1, CES2.1, CES2.2, CES2.3 and CES6, on chromosome 1. Phylogenetic and sequence alignment studies compared the predicted amino acid sequences for opossum CES with those for human, mouse, chicken, frog, salmon and Drosophila CES gene products. Phylogenetic analyses produced congruent phylogenetic trees depicting a rapid early diversification into at least five distinct CES gene family clusters: CES2, CES1, CES7, CES3, and CES6. Molecular divergence estimates based on a Bayesian relaxed clock approach revealed an origin for the five mammalian CES gene families between 328-378 MYA.The deduced amino acid sequence for an opossum cDNA was consistent with its identity as a mammalian CES2 gene product (designated CES2.1). Distinct gene locations for opossum CES1 (1: 446,222,550-446,274,850), three CES2 genes (1: 677,773,395-677,927,030) and a CES6 gene (1: 677,585,520-677,730,419) were observed on chromosome 1. Opossum CES1 and multiple CES2 genes were expressed in liver and intestine. Amino acid sequences for opossum CES1 and three CES2 gene products revealed conserved residues previously reported for human CES1 involved in catalysis, ligand binding, tertiary structure and organelle localization. Phylogenetic studies indicated the gene duplication events which generated ancestral mammalian CES genes predated the common ancestor for marsupial and eutherian mammals, and appear to coincide with the early diversification of tetrapods.

Dataset Information

The mammary gland-specific marsupial ELP and eutherian CTI share a common ancestral gene.

Publications

The mammary gland-specific marsupial ELP and eutherian CTI share a common ancestral gene.

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