Molecular Cloning, Expression Pattern, and Phylogenetic Analysis of a Selenophosphate synthetase Gene from Antheraea pernyi (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)

ABSTRACT Selenophosphate synthetase (Sps), the product of the SelD gene, produces a biologically active selenium donor compound from ATP and selenide. We have isolated and characterized the Sps gene from Antheraea pernyi (Guerin-Meneville) (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), an economically important insect. The resulting 1601 bp cDNA sequence contains an open reading frame of 1209 bp encoding a polypeptide of 402 amino acids, with 87% sequence identity to that from Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen). Semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis showed that the Sps gene was transcribed during four developmental stages (egg, larva, pupa, and adult) and in all the tissues tested (blood, fat body, midgut, silk glands, body wall, spermaries and ovaries), suggesting that ApSps plays an important role in the development of A. pernyi. From a database search, Sps protein homologs were found in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, including bacteria, fungi, invertebrates and vertebrates, with 47–98...