Sequence conservation, phylogenetic relationships, and expression profiles of nondigestive serine proteases and serine protease homologs in Manduca sexta

•Identify 125 nondigestive SPs/SPHs, 52 with 1–10 cystine-stabilized domains.•Reveal phylogenetic relationships among members in each of the 19 branches.•Build reliable 3D-models for the group-2, -1a, and -1b clip domains.•Profile mRNA levels of the 125 SPs/SPHs in tissues at different stages.

Serine protease (SP) and serine protease homolog (SPH) genes in insects encode a large family of proteins involved in digestion, development, immunity, and other processes. While 68 digestive SPs and their close homologs are reported in a companion paper (Kuwar et al., in preparation), we have identified 125 other SPs/SPHs in Manduca sexta and studied their structure, evolution, and expression. Fifty-two of them contain cystine-stabilized structures for molecular recognition, including clip, LDLa, Sushi, Wonton, TSP, CUB, Frizzle, and SR domains. There are nineteen groups of genes evolved from relatively recent gene duplication and sequence divergence. Thirty-five SPs and seven SPHs contain 1, 2 or 5 clip domains. Multiple sequence alignment and molecular modeling of the 54 clip domains have revealed structural diversity of these regulatory modules. Sequence comparison with their homologs in Drosophila melanogaster, Anopheles gambiae and Tribolium castaneum allows us to classify them into five subfamilies: A are SPHs with 1 or 5 group-3 clip domains, B are SPs with 1 or 2 group-2 clip domains, C, D1 and D2 are SPs with a single clip domain in group-1a, 1b and 1c, respectively. We have classified into six categories the 125 expression profiles of SP-related proteins in fat body, brain, midgut, Malpighian tubule, testis, and ovary at different stages, suggesting that they participate in various physiological processes. Through RNA-Seq-based gene annotation and expression profiling, as well as intragenomic sequence comparisons, we have established a framework of information for future biochemical research of nondigestive SPs and SPHs in this model species.

Graphical abstracta) One of the 52 multi-domain SPs/SPHs in Manduca sexta; b) A branch of the phylogenetic tree of clip domains for 9 of the 12 CLIPB SPs; c) 3D models of the clip domain-1 structures in the eight dual clip SPs and SPH42.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (189 K)Download as PowerPoint slide