Paracentrotus lividus Msx-1 mRNA, complete CDS. Pl-Msx-1 mRNA, complete CDS

This study is based on the isolation in Paracentrotus lividus sea urchin embryos of the Msx-1 mRNA, a member of the highly conserved homeodomain superfamily, involved in the transcriptional regulation of key developmental processes and here designed as Pl-Msx-1. After cDNA cloning we sequenced the complete ORF and by computational analysis, characterized the translated homeodomain-containing protein. In the phylogenetic analysis we compared P.lividus MSX-1 sequence with MSX-1 proteins from other species of sea urchins, invertebrate and vertebrate, by Multi Alignment in order to obtain a Neighborn Joining tree. Based on high conservation during evolution of the protein structure we analyzed the crystal structures of highly similar proteins in order to visualize the better tree dimensional model of the Pl-MSX-1 protein. By relative RT-PCR we detected and compared the maternal RNA and expression levels during development. Alterations in the expression levels were monitored in embryos exposed to metal such as Nichel, Zinc and Litium known to produce animalizing or vegetalizing effects on sea urchin embryos, in order to provide new informations on its functional role during development. This study is a contribution to understand one of the protagonists of the complex mechanisms that guide the embryonal development.