Functional specialization among members of Knickkopf family of proteins in insect cuticle organization.

ABSTRACT: Our recent study on the functional analysis of the Knickkopf protein from T. castaneum (TcKnk), indicated a novel role for this protein in protection of chitin from degradation by chitinases. Knk is also required for the laminar organization of chitin in the procuticle. During a bioinformatics search using this protein sequence as the query, we discovered the existence of a small family of three Knk-like genes (including the prototypical TcKnk) in the T. castaneum genome as well as in all insects with completed genome assemblies. The two additional Knk-like genes have been named TcKnk2 and TcKnk3. Further complexity arises as a result of alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation of transcripts of TcKnk3, leading to the production of three transcripts (and by inference, three pro

SUBMITTER: Chaudhari SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4140639 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature