cDNA cloning, characterization, and expression analysis of the Rac1 gene from Scophthalmus maximus

Rac1 is a small GTP-binding protein that belongs to the Rho small GTPases, which are important signaling molecules that regulate the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton and mediate changes in cell morphology and motility. The EST sequence of Rac1 from turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) was obtained from a subtractive cDNA library previously. In this study, the full-length cDNA sequence of turbot Rac1 was obtained, which was 2420 nucleotides (nt) encoding a protein of 192 amino acids, with a putative molecular weight of 21.3 kDa. At the amino-acid level, turbot Rac1 was highly conserved to previously characterized GTPases of Rac sub-family, and was nearly identical to human Rac1 (95.3% identity). Quantitative real-time PCR demonstrated that the Rac1 was constitutively expressed in all tissues examined, but at different levels. Upon challenge with Vibrio harveyi, the expression level of Rac1 fluctuated in the liver at different time points. In the head kidney, its expression level decreased to the lowest at 4 h, and then increased to the background level at 24 h. The remarkable degree of evolutionary conservation observed in turbot Rac1 primary structure together with its changing in expression level upon challenge suggested a functionally important role for this Rho family member in the immune response.