Hard cuticle of insects is a complex structure composed mainly of several proteins and chitin fibers. Many cuticle binding proteins have been identified from insects. These show presence of characteristic motifs in them such as R&R motif, extended R&R motif, AAP(V/L) motif etc. We have identified one of such putative cuticle protein encoding gene from common Indian barnacle, Balanus amphitrite by cDNA cloning and sequencing. The gene was found to encode an open reading frame (ORF) of 102 amino acids. The deduced protein sequence was found rich in alanine forming almost 22% of the total amino acids. Other two predominant amino acids valine and proline together contributed ~23% of total amino acids. The hydropathy plot of the amino acid sequence showed presence of two hydrophobic regions surrounding central hydophillic region. The protein sequence showed presence of three characteristic YHAAP(V/L) motifs at the C-terminus.
Key words: cuticular proteins, barnacle, Balanus amphitrite, AAP(V/L)
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