PUBLICATION
Zebrafish Ribonucleases are Bactericidal: Implications for the Origin of the Vertebrate RNase A Superfamily
- Authors
- Cho, S., and Zhang, J.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-070310-14
- Date
- 2007
- Source
- Mol. Biol. Evol. 24(5): 1259-1268 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- RNase, angiogenin, Danio rerio, antibacterial, host defense, molecular evolution
- MeSH Terms
-
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- Anti-Bacterial Agents/metabolism*
- Cloning, Molecular
- Evolution, Molecular*
- Fishes/genetics
- Fishes/metabolism
- Gene Expression
- Genome
- Humans
- Liver/enzymology
- Microbial Sensitivity Tests
- Molecular Sequence Data
- RNA, Transfer/metabolism
- Ribonuclease, Pancreatic*/genetics
- Ribonucleases/classification
- Ribonucleases/genetics
- Ribonucleases/physiology*
- Tissue Distribution
- Vertebrates
- Zebrafish/genetics
- Zebrafish/metabolism*
- Zebrafish/microbiology
- PubMed
- 17347156 Full text @ Mol. Biol. Evol.
Citation
Cho, S., and Zhang, J. (2007) Zebrafish Ribonucleases are Bactericidal: Implications for the Origin of the Vertebrate RNase A Superfamily. Mol. Biol. Evol.. 24(5):1259-1268.
Abstract
Understanding the evolutionary origin of the ribonuclease (RNase) A superfamily is of great interest because the superfamily is the sole vertebrate-specific enzyme family known to date. Although mammalian RNases have a diverse array of biochemical and physiological functions, the original function of the superfamily at its birth is enigmatic. Such information may be obtained by studying basal lineages of the vertebrate phylogeny and is necessary for discerning how and why this superfamily originated. Here we clone and characterize three RNase genes from the zebrafish, the most basal vertebrate examined for RNases. We report (1) that all three zebrafish RNases are ribonucleolytically active, with one of them having an RNase activity comparable to that of bovine RNase A, the prototype of the superfamily, (2) that two zebrafish RNases have prominent expressions in adult liver and gut, while the third is expressed in adult eye and heart, and (3) that all three RNases have antibacterial activities in vitro. These results, together with the presence of antibacterial and/or antiviral activities in multiple distantly related mammalian RNases, strongly suggest that the superfamily started as a host-defense mechanism in vertebrate evolution.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping