멸종위기 야생동물 II급 염주알다슬기 (Koreoleptoxis nodifila) 의 Aquaporin 유전자 발굴 및 생물정보학적 분석

초록

Aquaporins (AQP) are membrane proteins that regulate cellular water balance and are widely expressed in both animals and plants. AQP contributes to maintaining cellular water homeostasis and body fluid balance under various environmental conditions. This is essential for mollusks, and AQP is known to be important factors involved in this process. The genetic information of Koreoleptoxis nodifila, an endangered gastropod from Korea, is poor, and there is no report on AQP. In this study, we analyzed transcriptome data obtained using the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform to identify the AQP gene in K. nodifila. The K. nodifila AQP gene contains a 1,056-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein consisting of 352 amino acids. Conserved domain analysis revealed that this protein has six alpha-helical transmembrane structures, which suggests that it is classified as a membrane protein. InterPro analysis confirmed that this protein belongs to the major intrinsic protein (MIP) superfamily. Multiple sequence alignment using ClustalX2 identified a conserved asparagine-proline-alanine (NPA) motif associated with water transport functions. Also, endangered K. nodifila is difficult to verify through molecular biological experiments; therefore, an in silico analysis was performed. The results confirmed that K. nodifila AQP belongs to the Pleuroceridae lineage and is positioned within Gastropoda. This study is the first to elucidate the AQP gene sequence of K. nodifila andis expected to be used as basic data for securing genetic resources and functional studies.

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