中心体を有する植物（イチョウ）におけるイトマキヒトデの精子中心体DNA相同配列の探索

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2010年度神奈川大学総合理学研究所共同研究助成論文Ginkgo and Cycads are unique seed plants since they produce spermatozoids. Similar to animal sperm, the sperm of plants belonging to the genus Ginkgo (Gymnospermae) have many centrosomes because of the presence of centrioles / centrosomes in their spermtozoids. Recently, we found a novel DNA sequence in the sperm centrosome of the starfish Asterina pectinifera. Similar DNA sequences were also found in the sperm of several animals and bryophytes. In the present study, we performed PCR analysis of the total DNA of Ginkgo biloba using a centriolar-specific DNA primer. This pair of primers was designed to specifically amplify centrosomal DNA of starfish. We found that the size of amplified PCR products was similar to those of starfish, i.e., approximately 500 bps. We determined nucleotide sequence similarities in the DNA of these PCR-amplified products of Ginkgo plants. The nucleotide sequences of G. biloba showed high homology (95% identity)with those obtained from the centrosomal DNA of starfish. Our results show that plants of the genus Ginkgo have a conserved sequence that is similar to the starfish sperm centrosomal DNA sequence and this unique DNA may exist in gymnosperms. We discussedwhether this unique DNA sequence could also exist in other eukaryotic cells.
2011-06-30