Bioinformatics analysis of mice Agouti gene polymorphism / 中国实验动物学报

ABSTRACT

Purpose Polymorphisms of candidate gene Agouti was analyzed in order to reveal the molecular mech -anisms of coat color difference in chromosome engineering mice .Methods Firstly, differences of mouse coat color was detected by color measurement spectrophotometer .Then, candidate gene Agouti was found by whole genome scanning based on DNA chip.Finally, cDNA and amino acid sequence polymorphisms were analyzed , as well as the influence of protein properties and function after mutation was predicted by bioinformatics software .Results There are five SNPs in the Agou-ti cDNA sequences , resulting in three missense mutations in the amino acid sequence of Agouti signaling protein .Bioinfor-matics analysis revealed that one βsheet deletion in the secondary structure of the mutant protein , as well as tertiary struc-ture changed , leading to decrease of binding ability .Conclusion A novel missense mutation is found in candidate Agouti gene.It plays critical role in receptor binding activity , and may reflect on mice coat color changing from light gray to dark gray eventually .