Putative Histone H2A Genes from a Red Alga, Griffithsia japonica

doi:2003.18.3.191

Algae > Volume 18(3); 2003 > Article

Algae 2003;18(3): 191-197. doi: https://doi.org/10.4490/ALGAE.2003.18.3.191

Yoo Kyung Lee, Hong Kum Lee

National Research Lab for Marine Microbial Diversity, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute

ABSTRACT

Histones are important proteins that interact with the DNA double helix to form nucleosome. Two putative histone genes, GjH2A-1 and GjH2A-2 were isolated from a red alga Griffithsia japonica. The putative open reading frame of GjH2A-1 and GjH2A-2 shared high similarity with the previously reported amino acid sequences of histone H2As. They have a motif consisting of seven amino acids A-G-L-Q-F-P-V, which matches the histone H2A motif [AC]-G-L-x-F-P-V. Phylogenetic trees were constructed from amino acid sequences of 38 histone H2As. The histone H2As were divided into two groups: major H2As and H2A.F/Z variants. The major histone H2A group consisted of animals, fungi, Plants + green algae, and red algae H2A subgroups. The animal histone H2A subgroup was divided into vertebrates, echinoderms, nematodes, insects, and segmented worms H2As. The putative red algal histone genes, GjH2A-1 and GjH2A-2, constituted an independent lineage. This is the first report on red algal histone genes.

Key words: EST(expressed sequence tag), Griffithsia japonica, Histone