Actin gene structure in two Artemia species, A. franciscana and A. parthenogenetica.

Genomic clones coding for actin have been isolated from two species of the crustacean Artemia, A. parthenogenetica and A. franciscana. The Act211 isoform gene was isolated from A. parthenogenetica, and the two other isoform genes, Act302 and Act403, were isolated from A. franciscana. The comparison of the nucleotide sequence of genomic and cDNA clones showed an interspecific divergence of 4% in translated and 6.1% in untranslated regions. However, the establishment of the partial structure of the Act211 gene in A. franciscana and of the Act302 gene in A. parthenogenetica suggests their similarity in the two species. The Act211 gene is divided into four exons, the Act302 gene into six exons, and the Act403 gene into seven exons. The three genes have introns in the 5' untranslated region and between codons 41 and 42. The Act211 and 403 genes have one common intron in codon 168. The Act302 and 403 genes have common introns between codons 121-122, 246-247, and within codon 301. While introns in the 5' untranslated region and between codons 41-42 and 121-122 are present in many organisms, the introns in positions 168 and 246-247 had only been found previously in actin genes from the nematode Onchocerca volvulus and the green alga Volvox carterii, respectively. The intron in position 301 had not been reported before. The transcription initiation sites of these three genes as well as the nucleotide sequences of the promoter regions have been also determined.