IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PEROXIREDOXIN GENE FAMILY IN AVES

Authors: HAN, JAE YONG - SEOUL NAT U, KOREA; SONG, KI DUK - NIH BETHESDA MD; SHIN, JI HYE - AVICORE BIO I, KOREA; HAN, BEOM KU - AVICORE BIO I, KOREA; PARK, TAE SUB - SEOUL KOREA; PARK, HYUN JEONG - SEOUL NAT U KOREA; KIM, JIM-KYOO - CHANGWON NAT U,KOREA; Lillehoj, Hyun; LIM, JEONG MOOK - SEOUL NAT U KOREA; KIM, HEEBAL - SEOUL NAT U KOREA

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/2/2005
Publication Date: 10/5/2005
Citation: Han, J., Song, K., Shin, J., Han, B., Park, T., Park, H., Kim, J., Lillehoj, H.S., Lim, J., Kim, H. 2005. Identification and characterization of the peroxiredoxin gene family in aves. Poultry Science 84:1432-1438.

Interpretive Summary: Limited information concerning how different genes regulate development, and immune response of host in chickens impedes timely progress to make genetic improvement of poultry strains. In this study, ARS scientists and scientists from Seoul National University and Avicore Biotechnology Institute collaborated to clone and characterize one of the important genes of chickens which are implicated in the aging process. This is the first report to show that peroxiredoxins (PRXs), a family of evolutionally conserved thiol-containing peroxidases and are major antioxidants of endogenously-produced peroxides in eukaryotes exist in avian as multiple isoforms. Since PRXs have been shown to be involved not only in protective mechanisms against oxidative stress, but also in cell differentiation and proliferation, immune responses, and apoptosis, the availability of this gene now enable us to study the role of PRXs in the developmental and disease processes in chickens. Understanding this important antioxidant defense mechanisms of biological systems would lead to better means to prevent oxidative stress and the consequent cell damage in poultry.

Technical Abstract: Peroxiredoxin (PRX) is a crucial antioxidant protein that protects against endogenously produced peroxides in prokaryotes to eukaryotes. To date, six different isoforms have been identified in mammals. In this study, we describe the first members of the PRX protein family to be characterized in Aves. Through bioinformatics analysis, we observed that at least four different classes of PRX protein were evolutionarily conserved in Aves. Furthermore, in vitro functional assays of the candidate chicken PRX proteins demonstrated that they had similar levels of antioxidant activity to those of the mammalian enzymes. The expression patterns of the PRX transcript in several chicken tissues were not tissue-specific, suggesting that they might play an essential role as a housekeeping gene in all tissues, to protect against oxidative damage. In conclusion, the sequences of the putative members of this functional gene family in chickens could be effectively retrieved in silico through bioinformatics analysis, and the functionality of their gene products evaluated by in vitro comparative assay.