Abstract:

【Objective】 The objective is to illuminate the molecular features and the expression profile of the porcine TAF7 (TBP-associated factor; TBP is a TATA-binding protein) gene. As one component of the transcriptional pre-initiation complex, the protein TAF7 plays an important role during regulation of the gene expression. 【Method】The porcine TAF7 gene from the Wuzhishan pig sample was cloned and sequenced, and then its molecular features were analyzed. Mapping of the porcine TAF7 gene to porcine chromosome was made with the IMpRH panel. The mRNA distribution profile of the porcine TAF7 gene in sixteen adult Wuzhishan pig tissues (heart, dorsal muscles, lymph nodes, spleen, liver, kidney, lung, uterus, testicle, stomach, small and large intestine, ovaries, thymus gland, brain and fat) were examined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. 【Result】 A sequence with a length of 1 701 bp was cloned, it contained the CDS (coding sequence) region of 1 050 bp of the porcine TAF7 gene. Analysis of the network software GENSCAN showed that the porcine TAF7 gene encoded a protein composed of 349 AAs. By the IMpRH (the INRA-University of Minnesota porcine radiation hybrid) panel, porcine TAF7 gene was assigned to porcine chromosome 2, associated with SW1879 and IL4 (interleukin-4) closely, the LODs (Limit of Detection) were 6.69 and 6.15, respectively. The mRNA distribution of the porcine TAF7 gene was that it was expressed almost in all tissues, especially highly expressed in testicle and could hardly be examined in heart and dorsal muscles. 【Conclusion】 The porcine TAF7 gene has an small intron in the 5’UTR, but the CDS is intronless. The sequence of the porcine protein TAF7 shares high similarity with its homolog from human, and they both are closed in the Phylogenetic tree. The porcine TAF7 gene can be detected almost in all tissues, which shows us its extensive functions for transcription. Furthermore, the phenomenon of highly expressed in testicle needs further research.

Key words: porcine TAF7 gene, cloning, mapping, expression profile