Authors : Xiao-Hui Si, Yong-Fang Yao, Shuan-Ling Zhang, Wei Liu, Liang Zhou and Huai-Liang Xu
Abstract: The Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC) gene also called Duffy or FY, Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium knowlesi use DARC to trigger internalization into red blood cells and cause malaria, the malaria life cycle in humans and nonhuman primates. In order to investigate DARC gene in golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellanae), two pairs of primers were designed based on DARC gene sequence of the Macaca mulatta (HQ285849.1) and used to amplify approximately 1.0 and 1.1 kb DNA fragments respectively by PCR technique from genomic DNA sample of golden monkey. The DNA, sequencing and combing results showed that the DARC gene of the golden monkey was 1593 bp in length and contained a 47 bp 5 flanking region, two extrons (21 and 990 bp), one complete intron (478 bp) and a 57 bp 3 flanking region. The Open Reading Fragment (ORF) was 1011 bp and encoded 336 amino acid residues. The DARC was a hydrophobic protein with less hydrophilic components. The prediction of topological structure for the protein indicated that it contained 16 potential function sites: three N-glycosylation sites, one protein kinase C phosphorylation site, two casein kinase II phosphorylation sites and ten N-myristoylation sites. In addition, the protein comprised seven transmembrane helix regions and four extracellular regions and four intracellular regions. Alignment analysis revealed that the homologies of DARC gene nucleotide sequence of golden snub-nosed monkey with other primate species and human was 95-99% and the homologies of amino acid sequence was 80-99%. These results would provide the molecular basis for golden monkey against human malarias.
Xiao-Hui Si, Yong-Fang Yao, Shuan-Ling Zhang, Wei Liu, Liang Zhou and Huai-Liang Xu, 2012. Identification and Characterization of the Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC) Gene in Sichuan Golden Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellanae). Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 11: 4465-4471.