Molecular analysis and bioinformatic characterization of cooper, zinc - Superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-sod) gene of Caiman latirostris

PARAVANI, ENRIQUE; ODETTI, LUCÍA; SIMONIELLO, MA. FERNANDA; POLETTA, GISELA L.

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY REPORTS

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2020 vol. 47 p. 8849 - 8857

0301-4851

Background: Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an antioxidant enzyme that acts as acomponent of first-line defense system against reactive oxygen species (ROS).Copper/Zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) is one of the isoforms of SODenzyme and is sensitive to the exposure of different environmental factors, in differentspecies and tissues. Caiman latirostris is one of the two crocodilian species living inArgentina and no information is available on the molecular and biochemicalcharacteristics of the Cu/Zn-sod gene in this species. In the present work, we reportedthe presence of the Cu/Zn-sod gene in C. latirostris, the nucleotide and amino acidsequences, the modelled protein structure, evolutionary distance among species andtissue specific expression patterns.Methods and results: Cu/Zn-sod gene was 620 bp open reading frame in length andencoded 178 amino acids. The nucleotide sequences of C. latirostris shared highsimilarity with the Cu/Zn-sod genes of other crocodilian species, so it showed to behighly conserved. PCR analysis showed that Cu/Zn-sod gene was expressed in all thetissues examined (liver, gonads, spleen, heart, and whole blood), suggesting aconstitutively expressed gene in these tissues.Conclusion: This study allows further investigation into the structure-activityrelationship and the mechanism of action of Cu/Zn-SOD, besides exploring thefunctional breadth and possible alteration factors, including xenobiotics.