CDNA cloning and phylogenetic analysis of Gibbula rarilineata (class: gastropoda) actin gene

Actin is one of the most abundant proteins found in eukaryotes and highly conserved in many taxa from prokaryotes to human. Actin is, also, one of the most studied proteins due to its primary roles in cytoskeleton, and muscle contraction. In addition, because of its so called ancient origins, classification of variable number of actin isoforms in different taxa is considered to have potential of being informative about evolution of eukaryotic cells. Although vertebrate actins are well studied and there are two accepted classifications for vertebrate actins, the studies about invertebrate actins are very limited. Because of the lack of genetic data, there is not a specific classification for invertebrate actins. In our study, we aimed to extend the existing protein database of invertebrates by cloning Gibbula rarilineata actin gene. In our study, G. rarilineata specimen were collected from Marmara Sea. Total RNA was isolated from foot tissue of specimen and total RNA isolates were used for cDNA synthesis. PCR amplification of G. rarilineata was performed by using of designed gene specific primers. Obtained PCR products were cloned and sequenced. Partial nucleotide sequences were translated to amino acid sequences and aligned with human actin isoforms and other amino acid sequences of gastropoda collected from GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis was used for classification of G. rarilineata actin.