2007 Volume 76 Issue 3 Pages 3_121-3_127
A histone variant H2A.Z cDNA has been cloned and sequenced from the silkworm, Bombyx mori. The predicted amino acid sequence of this cDNA showed a high homology with H2A.Zs from Anopheles gambiae, Drosophila melanogaster and Homo sapiens. The positions of introns in the H2A.Z genes were conserved among these species. Analysis of B. mori (Bm) H2A.Z gene expression indicated that this gene is expressed tissue-specifically in the fat body and hemocytes and life stage-specifically during 5th instar and wandering stages. Injection of 20-hydroxyecdysone into 5th instar larvae decreased expression of this gene, suggesting that this hormone plays a role to some extent in the novel expression pattern of the BmH2A.Z gene.
