p63 gene structure in the phylum mollusca

Roles of p53 family ancestor (p63) in the organisms' response to stressful environmental conditions (mainly pollution) have been studied among molluscs, especially in the genus Mytilus, within the last 15 years. Nevertheless, information about gene structure of this regulatory gene in molluscs is scarce. Here we report the first complete genomic structure of the p53 family orthologue in the mollusc Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and confirm its similarity to vertebrate p63 gene. Our searches within the available molluscan genomes (Aplysia californica, Lottia gigantea, Crassostrea gigas and Biomphalaria glabrata), found only one p53 family member present in a single copy per haploid genome. Comparative analysis of those orthologues, additionally confirmed the conserved p63 gene structure. Conserved p63 gene structure can be a helpful tool to complement or/and revise gene annotations of any future p63 genomic sequence records in molluscs, but also in other animal phyla. Knowledge of the correct gene structure will enable better prediction of possible protein isoforms and their functions. Our analyses also pointed out possible mis-annotations of the p63 gene in sequenced molluscan genomes and stressed the value of manual inspection (based on alignments of cDNA and protein onto the genome sequence) for a reliable and complete gene annotation.