Phylogenetic analysis of Aegista quelpartensis using metallothionein gene = Metallothionein 유전자를 활용한 제주배꼽털달팽이 (Aegista quelpartensis) 의 분자계통학적 연구

Abstract

Metallothionein (MT) is a metal-binding protein with a small molecular weight that can be induced by factors such as metal ions and chemicals, and is widely present in various organisms. The high cysteine content of MT contributes to the regulation of intracellular metal concentration, detoxification of heavy metals, and it may be induced due to the environment exposed to heavy metals or oxidation stress. MT has been consistently studied as a taxonomic biomarker for various species, including mollusks. Aegista quelpartensis, a native species of Korea, has habitat in Jeju and Jindo island. DNAseq and transcriptome information is registered with NCBI's SRA, but no molecular phylogenetic studies have been conducted. RNA sequencing was performed using Illumina Hiseq 2500 to find the genetic information of A. quelpartensis. The unigene obtained through the de novo assembly was annotated according to the PANM database using the BLAST program, and the MT sequence consisting of 288 bp coding region and 96 amino acid residues was extracted. The bioinformatic analysis verified that A. quelpartensis was grouped in the Stylommatophora clad using the ClustalX and MEGA7 programs. This study confirmed the phylogenetic location of A. quelpartensis and the MT gene is sufficient gene that can be used in phylogenetic studies on Mollusca.