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A Novel Cationic Ribonuclease with Antimicrobial Activity from Rana dybowskii

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Abstract

A novel ribonuclease (RNase) A superfamily gene (Rdronc) has been cloned from the frog Rana dybowskii. The deduced amino acid sequence shows that it belongs to the ribonuclease A superfamily, with the highest identity, 73%, to Rana pipiens onconase. Adaptive evolution analysis based on maximum likelihood models of codon substitution has been conducted on 10 members of the Rana RNases of subcluster B. Rapid adaptive evolution and multiple positive selection sites have been detected, which indicates that these genes may be evolving under positive selection pressure. Functional assay demonstrates that the recombinant Rdronc protein possesses antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and weaker antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and yeast Candida albicans. Our findings support the hypothesis that ribonuclease A superfamily members may function in host defense of early-diversified vertebrates.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Jaap J. Beintema and Dr. Helene F. Rosenberg for their valuable suggestions, and Dr. Jinchun Chen for generously providing technical advice. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. This work was partly supported by funds from the Beijing Education Commission Science and Technology Development Program of China and also by a grant from the Biochemical Engineering College of Beijing Union University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Fengyun Tao & Runyu Ma

  2. Department of Biomedicine, Biochemical Engineering College, Beijing Union University, 18th Fatou Xili, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100023, China

    Fengyun Tao, Meiyin Fan, Wei Zhao & Qiang Lin

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  1. Fengyun Tao
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Correspondence to Wei Zhao.

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Tao, F., Fan, M., Zhao, W. et al. A Novel Cationic Ribonuclease with Antimicrobial Activity from Rana dybowskii . Biochem Genet 49, 369–384 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-010-9414-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-010-9414-4

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