Molecular characterization of the encoding regions and tissue expression analyses for 3 novel buffalo AKT genes, AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3

Authors: CHUNFENG WU, LIXIAN LIU, JINLONG HUO, DALIN LI, YUEYUN YUAN, FENG YUAN, YONGWANG MIAO

Abstract: The objective of this study was to obtain the complete coding sequences (CDSs) of 3 buffalo genes (AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3) using reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and to depict their molecular characterizations and tissue expression patterns in buffalo. The buffalo AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3 CDSs were 1443 bp, 1446 bp, and 1440 bp in length and encoded 480, 481, and 479 amino acids, respectively. Nine, 13, and 3 nucleotide differences were found in the CDSs between buffalo and other bovine species. Phylogenetic analyses showed that buffalo AKT1 and AKT2 have close genetic relationships with other species in the family Bovidae, while AKT3 is highly conserved in mammals. Buffalo AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3 all have a pleckstrin homology domain, a Ser/Thr-specific kinase domain, and a C-terminal hydrophobic regulatory domain. The tissue expression profiles were tested by real-time quantitative PCR and revealed that the buffalo AKTs were expressed in 10 tissues. Among these tissues, mammary glands showed high expression levels, which indicated that AKT genes might be important in the regulation of mammary gland functions in buffalo.

Keywords: Buffalo, AKT genes, polymorphism, characterization, tissue expression profile

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