Molecular cloning, sequence identification and expression profile of domestic guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) UGT1A1 gene

Abstract

Domestic guinea pig is a model animal for human disease research. Uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1 family, polypeptide A1 (UGT1A1) is an important human disease-related gene. In this study, the complete coding sequence of domestic guinea pig gene UGT1A1 was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The open reading frame of the domestic guinea pig UGT1A1 gene is 1602 bp in length and was found to encode a protein of 533 amino acids. Sequence analysis revealed that the UGT1A1 protein of domestic guinea pig shared high homology with the UGT1A1 proteins of degu (84%), damara mole-rat (84%), human (80%), northern white-cheeked gibbon (80%), Colobus angolensis palliatus (80%) and golden snub-nosed monkey (79%). This gene contains five exons and four introns, as revealed by the computer-assisted analysis. The results also showed that the domestic guinea pig UGT1A1 gene had a close genetic relationship with the UGT1A1 gene of degu. The prediction of transmembrane helices showed that domestic guinea pig UGT1A1 might be a transmembrane protein. Expression profile analysis indicated that the domestic guinea pig UGT1A1 gene was differentially expressed in detected domestic guinea pig tissues. Our experiment laid a primary foundation for using the domestic guinea pig as a model animal to study the UGT1A1-related human diseases.

Keywords

• Domestic guinea pig
• UGT1A1
• molecular characterization
• tissue expression