THE STRUCTURE OF THE GENE ENCODING DIAPAUSE PROTEIN-1 OF THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE (LEPTINOTARSA-DECEMLINEATA)

This paper describes the complete structure and partial sequence of the gene encoding diapause protein 1, an arylphorin-type storage hexamer of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, This gene contains four introns of variable lengths, the positions of which have been determined accurately, Three of the five exons of the gene are very similar in size to those reported for storage hexamer genes from Lepidoptera. The last two exons differ significantly in size from those found for other storage protein genes, The complete gene for diapause protein 1 encompasses about 9 kb of genomic DNA, The gene encodes a pre-protein of 702 amino acids, including a signal peptide of 17 amino acids, Transcription starts 32 bp upstream from the translation initiation codon, A typical TATA-box is located 27 bp upstream from the transcription initiation site, Multiple alignment analysis of the amino acid sequence reveals extensive homology with storage hexamers from Lepidoptera, This is the first published complete nucleotide and amino acid sequence of a Coleopteran arylphorin. A simple and rapid method is described for mapping the number, size and positions of introns in genomic DNA fragments using PCR.