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cDNA nucleotide sequence encoding the ZPC protein of Australian hydromyine rodents: a novel sequence of the putative sperm-combining site within the family Muridae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2002

Christine A. Swann ,
Rory M. Hope  and
William G. Breed
Christine A. Swann
Affiliation:
Present address: Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia
Rory M. Hope
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia
William G. Breed
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia
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Abstract

This comparative study of the cDNA sequence of the zona pellucida C (ZPC) glycoprotein in murid rodents focuses on the nucleotide and amino acid sequence of the putative sperm-combining site. We ask the question: Has divergence evolved in the nucleotide sequence of ZPC in the murid rodents of Australia? Using RT-PCR and (RACE) PCR, the complete cDNA coding region of ZPC in the Australian hydromyine rodents Notomys alexis and Pseudomys australis, and a partial cDNA sequence from a third hydromyine rodent, Hydromys chrysogaster, has been determined. Comparison between the cDNA sequences of the hydromyine rodents reveals that the level of amino acid sequence identity between N. alexis and P. australis is 96%, whereas that between the two species of hydromyine rodents and M. musculus and R. norvegicus is 88% and 87% respectively. Despite being reproductively isolated from each other, the three species of hydromyine rodents have a 100% level of amino acid sequence identity at the putative sperm-combining site. This finding does not support the view that this site is under positive selective pressure. The sequence data obtained in this study may have important conservation implications for the dissemination of immunocontraception directed against M. musculus using ZPC antibodies.

Keywords

ImmunocontraceptionMurid rodentsSpecies specificityZona pellucida
Type
Research Article
Information
Zygote , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , November 2002 , pp. 291 - 299
Copyright
2002 Cambridge University Press

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