Molecular Characterization, Functional Prediction and Evolutionary Analysis of FEZF2 Gene in Species of Bovidae

PurposeTo reveal the functions and differences of FEZF2 gene in species of Bovidae family.

MethodsThe sequences of FEZF2 gene in domestic animals of Bovidae and homologous sequences of non-Bovidae species for comparison were downloaded from NCBI and Ensembl databases, the structure of FEZF2 gene, and the physicochemical characteristics, amino acid composition, motifs and conserved domains, advanced structures, biological pathways involved, molecular functions and evolutionary relationships of its encoded proteins were compared and analyzed using the methods of bioinformatics and comparative genomics.

ResultsThe structure of the transcription region of FEZF2 gene is different among species of Bovidae, which mainly shows that the sequence length of the untranslated regions and introns is inconsistent. However, the structural pattern of their coding sequence (CDS) is consistent, which displays collinearity with the CDS structure of non-Bovidae animals. FEZF2 protein of Bovidae species is a hydrophilic protein without a signal peptide sequence and a transmembrane domain that performs biological functions in the nucleus, and contains a conserved zinc finger domain of COG5048. The prediction showed that the biological process involved in this protein is mainly related to the regulation of neuronal development, and the molecular function is mainly related to chromatin binding, transcriptional activation or inhibition. There is a continuous glycine repeat region in FEZF2 sequences of Bovidae and non-Bovidae mammals. Buffalo, yak, sheep and goat are all 13G type, but cattle and zebu have two alleles of 12G and 13G. The amino acid composition, sequence consistency, physicochemical characteristics, motifs, domains and advanced structures of FEZF2 protein among the species of Bovidae are similar, but there are some differences among different genera of Bovidae. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the FEZF2 proteins of the same genus of Bovidae are closely related to each other.

ConclusionThis study reveals that the structural pattern of FEZF2 gene CDS is highly consistent among the domestic animals of Bovidae. As a nuclear functional protein, FEZF2 may be involved in the regulation of gene expression in neuronal development and body immunity in the species of Bovidae.