Conservation of cancer genes in the marine invertebrate Mytilus edulis

Rotchell, Jeanette M..; Ciocan, Corina M..

doi:10.1021/es0400887

Authors

Corina M. Ciocan

Professor Jeanette Rotchell J.Rotchell@hull.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Mussels are susceptible to a wide range of environmental toxicants, including carcinogens, and thus are often employed as bioindicator species. To elucidate the molecular aetiology of such neoplastic damage, we have cloned Mytilus edulis homologues of the vertebrate ras proto-oncogene, and p53 tumor suppressor gene. The M. edulis ras cDNA encodes a predicted protein of 184 amino acids. The DNA sequence analysis with vertebrate ras sequences demonstrates that the M. edulis ras cDNA is highly conserved in regions of functional importance, including mutational hot spots. The partial p53 sequence also demonstrates that M. edulis p53 is highly conserved in two regions of functional importance and that these regions also include four of the five mutational hot spots for this gene. In contrast, the M. edulis p53 sequence shows little similarity to the other published invertebrate p53-like sequences. The cancer gene sequences characterized herein will allow development of specific biomarkers of genotoxic damage. © 2005 American Chemical Society.

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	May 1, 2005
Journal	ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Print ISSN	0013-936X
Electronic ISSN	1520-5851
Publisher	American Chemical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	39
Issue	9
Pages	3029-3033
Institution Citation	Ciocan, C. M., & Rotchell, J. M. (2005). Conservation of cancer genes in the marine invertebrate Mytilus edulis. Environmental Science and Technology, 39(9), (3029-3033). doi:10.1021/es0400887. ISSN 0013-936X
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1021/es0400887
Keywords	Tumor-suppressor gene; Clam; Leukemia-cells
Publisher URL	https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es0400887