Cloning and characterization of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase encoding gene inGracilaria/Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) plays important roles in various cellular processes. A cy-tosolic GAPDH encoding gene (gpd) of Gracilaria/Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis was cloned and characterized. Deduced amino acid sequence of the enzyme of G. lemaneiformis had high homology with those of seven red algae. The 5'-untranslated regions of the GAPDHs encoding genes of these red algae varied greatly. GAPDHs of these red algae shared the highly conserved glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase active site ASCTTNCL. However, such active site of Cyanidium cal-darium was different from those of the other six algae at the last two residues (CL to LF), thus the spatial structure of its GAPDH active center may be different from those of the other six. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that GAPDH of G. lemaneiformis might have undergone an evolution similar to those of Porphyra yezoensis, Chondrus crispus, and Gracilaria verrucosa. C. caldarium had a closer evolutionary relationship with Cyanidioschyzon merolae than with Cyanidium sp. Virtual Northern blot analysis revealed that gpd of G. lemaneiformis expressed constitutively, which suggested that it might be house-keeping and could be adapted as an inner control in gene expression analysis of G. lemaneiformis.