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MBE Advance Access published online on January 6, 2009
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msn298
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Letter

Zwilling-A and -B, two related myelin proteins of teleosts, which originate from a single, bicistronic transcript

Karin Schaefer and Christian Brösamle*

Department of Biochemistry, Ludwig-Maximillians Universität München, Germany

* correspondence: Christian Brösamle, Department of Biochemistry, Ludwig-Maximillians Universität München, Schillerstrasse 44, 80336 München, Germany, Tel: +49 89 2180 75 451, Fax: +49 89 2180 75 415, email: christian.broesamle{at}med.uni-muenchen.de

Received for publication December 11, 2008. Accepted for publication December 22, 2008.

Myelination, the ensheathment of axons by membranes of highly specialized glial cells, has been a crucial innovation during early vertebrate evolution. It enables high nerve signal conduction velocities, while maintaining nervous system size and energy requirements at moderate levels. Consequently, myelination has been conserved in all extant gnathostome vertebrates. In a genome-wide mRNA expression screen, we identified several novel neural crest and myelin-specific transcripts in the zebrafish (Danio rerio). Here, we describe the characterization of two proteins, Zwilling-A and -B, which are exclusively expressed in myelinating glia of teleosts. They are structurally homologous and are translated from a common, bicistronic transcript. No similarities to sequences or domains of other proteins were detected. Analysis of phylogeny, genomic organization, and genomic syntenies suggests that the zwi gene has appeared soon after the teleost-specific genome duplication event and evolved under conservative selective pressure. We hypothesize that Zwilling-A and -B serve important physiological functions in teleost myelin.

Key Words: myelin • evolution • zebrafish • genome duplication


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