Abstract

TIMM10 is a member of the family of small Tim proteins, which is an important translocase located in inner mitochondrial membrane. It is a significant and interesting work to study it. The cDNA of TIMM10 was cloned successfully for the first time from the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) using RT-PCR technology, which was also sequenced and analyzed preliminarily. The cDNA fragment cloned is 307 bp in size, containing an open reading frame of 273 bp encoding 90 amino acids. Alignment analysis indicated that the nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence are highly conserved to other four species studied, including Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicusand Bos taurus. The homologies for nucleotide sequences of Giant PandaTIMM10 to that of these species are 94.51, 91.94, 91.21 and 93.77%, respectively, while all the homologies for amino acid sequences are 98.89%. Topology prediction showed there is one cAMP- and cGMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation site, two Casein kinase II phosphorylation sites and one Amidation site in the TIMM10 protein of the Giant Panda (A. melanoleuca).

Key words: Cloning, sequence analysis, TIMM10, the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).