Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
Dentin matrix acidic phosphoprotein 1 (DMP1) is an acidic, highly phosphorylated, noncollagenous protein secreted during dentin and bone formation. Previous functional studies of DMP1 have revealed various motifs playing a role in either mineralization or cell differentiation. We performed an evolutionary analysis of DMP1 to identify residues and motifs that were conserved during 220 millions years (Ma) of mammalian evolution, and hence have an important function. In silico search provided us with 41 sequences that were aligned and analyzed using the Hyphy program. We showed that DMP1 contains 55 positions that were kept unchanged for 220 Ma. We also defined in a more precise manner some motifs that were already known (i.e., cleavage sites, RGD motif, ASARM peptide, glycosaminoglycan chain attachment site, nuclear localization signal sites, and dentin sialophosphoprotein-binding site), and we found five, highly conserved, new functional motifs. In the near future, functional studies could be performed to understand the role played by them.
ISSN: 0022-2844

hal-01545482
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01545482
DOI : 10.1007/s00239-013-9539-2

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD SAGE Publications (UK and US)
Résumé : International audience
Amelogenin gene organization varies from 6 exons (1,2,3,5,6,7) in amphibians and sauropsids to 10 in rodents. The additional exons are exons 4, 8, 9, and ``4b'', the latter being as yet unidentified in AMELX transcripts. To learn more about the evolutionary origin of these exons, we used an in silico approach to find them in 39 tetrapod genomes. AMEL organization with 6 exons was the ancestral condition. Exon 4 was created in an ancestral therian (marsupials + placentals), then exon 9 in an ancestral placental, and finally exons ``4b'' and 8 in rodents, after divergence of the squirrel lineage. These exons were either inactivated in some lineages or remained functional: Exon 4 is functional from artiodactyls onward; exon 9 is known, to date, only in rodents, but could be coding in various mammals; and exon ``4b'' was probably coding in some rodents. We performed PCR of cDNA isolated from mouse and human tooth buds to identify the presence of these transcripts. A sequence analogous to exon ``4b'', and to exon 9, could not be amplified from the respective tooth cDNA, indicating that even though sequences similar to these exons are present, they are not transcribed in these species.
ISSN: 0022-0345

hal-01545487
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01545487
DOI : 10.1177/0022034511423399