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Intron-less globin genes in the insect Chironomus thummi thummi

Nature volume 310, pages 795–798 (1984)Cite this article

Abstract

The basic structural organization of the genes coding for vertebrate tetrameric haemoglobins and monomeric myoglobin has been strictly conserved throughout the past 600–800 million years of evolution1. The occurrence of introns both in plant leghaemoglobin genes2–5 and in vertebrate globin genes suggests that an exon–intron configuration may have already existed in the ancestral globin gene from which all contemporary genes of the globin gene family evolved6. We report here the first analysis of invertebrate globin genes. Four closely linked globin genes have been isolated from a genomic library of the insect Chironomus thummi thummi, and characterized. Genes A and B, which are transcribed from opposite DNA strands, encode haemoglobin III (ref. 7), while genes C and D code for haemoglobin IV (ref. 8) and are also transcribed from different DNA strands. Surprisingly all four globin genes lack any intervening sequences. The genes have all the characteristics of productive globin genes and are expressed in vivo. The 5′ end of the C. t. thummi globin genes encodes an amino-terminal signal peptide which is not present in mature haemoglobins. This is consistent with the observation that these haemoglobins represent secretory proteins, synthesized in the larval fat body and subsequently secreted into the haemolymph9,10.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Physiologische Chemie I, Universität Marburg, Lahnberge, 3550, Marburg, FRG

    Marianne Antoine & Jürgen Niessing

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  1. Marianne Antoine
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  2. Jürgen Niessing
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Antoine, M., Niessing, J. Intron-less globin genes in the insect Chironomus thummi thummi. Nature 310, 795–798 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/310795a0

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