Molecular Cloning and Characterization of the Actin-depolymerizing Factor Gene in Gossypium barbadense

Sea Island cotton(Gossypium barbadense L.) has been highly valued in Verticillium wilt resistance and many fiber qualities including fiber length,strength,and fineness.To identify whether

Molecular Characterization of Four ADF Genes Differentially Expressed in Cotton

Actin depolymerizing factor （ADF）, highly conserved in all eukaryotic cells, is a low molecular mass of actin-binding protein, which plays a key role in modulating the polymerizing and depolymerizing of the actin filaments. Four cDNAs （designated GhADF2, GhADF3, GhADF4, and GhADF5, respectively） encoding ADF proteins were isolated from cotton （Gossypium hirsutum） fiber cDNA library. GhADF2 cDNA is 705 bp in length and deduces a protein with 139 amino acids. GhADF3 cDNA is 819 bp in length and encodes a protein of 139 amino acids. GhADF4 cDNA is 804 bp in length and deduces a protein with 143 amino acids. GhADF5 cDNA is 644 bp in length and encodes a protein of 141 amino acids. The molecular evolutionary relationship of these genes was analyzed by means of bioinformatics. GhADF2 is closely related to GhADF3 （99% identity） and PetADF2 （89% identity）. GhADF4 is closely related to AtADF6 （78% identity）, and GhADF5 is closely related to AtADF5 （83% identity）. These results demonstrated that the plant ADF genes are highly conserved in structure. RT-PCR analysis showed that GhADF2 is predominantly expressed in fiber, whereas, GhADF5 is mainly expressed in cotyledons. On the other hand, it seems that GhADF3 and GhADF4 have no tissue specificity. Expression levels of different ADF genes may vary considerably in the same cell type, suggesting that they might be involved in regulating tissue development of cotton and the each ADF isoform may diverge to form the functional difference from the other ADFs during evolution.

Partial Purification and Characterization of the Rat Parotid Gland Protein Kinase Catalyzing Phosphorylation of Matured Destrin at Ser-2

Destrin, also called actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF), exists in resting parotid tissue as phosphorylated (inactive) and dephosphorylated (active) forms, and β-adrenergic stimulation of this tissue induces dephosphorylation of destrin. It is suggested that destrin dephosphorylation is involved in cortical F-actin disruption observed in parallel with β-agonist-induced amylase secretion. At present, the phosphorylation/dephosphorylation mechanism of destrin in parotid tissue is not known. We previously detected, in a crude rat parotid extract, a constitutively active protein kinase catalyzing phosphorylation of destrin;however, its identification has been hampered by difficulty in its enrichment. The purpose of this study was to explore a simple purification method(s) for this enzyme. To this end, we first developed a high-throughput dot-blot assay for the kinase with an anti-phosphodestrin antibody and then studied its purification by column chromatography on several media. We found that the kinase could be partially purified by sequential chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, phenyl-Sepharose, and hydroxyapatite columns. In each chromatography, however, the kinase could be eluted, at the cost of resolution, only by sharp increases in the elution power of the eluent;gradual increases in the elution power resulted in unacceptably poor recovery. We confirmed that enzymatic properties of the kinase were not basically altered during the purification. Further purification of the kinase was achieved by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), which resolved the kinase activity into two bands and separated the activity from most proteins (the kinase activity after PAGE was detected with destrin-coated polyvinylidene difluoride membranes and the anti-phosphodestrin antibody). The two bands seem to constitute the major destrin-phosphorylating activity in the resting rat parotid gland. We here report its partial purification and characterization together with the detection methods.