World Congress of Malacology Antwerp ... - Unitas Malacologica

transport, stabilization and function of Na,K-α at the plasma membrane). The sodium pump exists in
plasma membrane as a heterotetramer: α2β2.
Na,K-α has a highly conserved amino acid sequence. Its sequence similarity between birds, fish and
mammals is close to 90%. Although the Na,K-ATPase is a well-studied enzyme, it has not been
examined extensively in invertebrates, especially in molluscs. There are only a few fragments of
gastropod Na,K-ATPase sequences in the GenBank. Here we report the nucleotide and deduced
amino acid sequence of a large part of Na,K-α for Helix pomatia (the edible Roman snail). It is the
longest sequence of a mollusc α-subunit characterized thus far.
The method often referred to as RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) was used to generate a
full-length cDNA of H. pomatia Na,K-α. This method has been developed to amplify DNA
sequences from a messenger RNA (mRNA) template between a defined internal site and unknown
sequences of either the 3’ or the 5’ end of mRNA. As a result of RACE, we obtained a 1580-bp
sequence of H. pomatia Na,K-α. This fragment comprises two conserved (for α-subunit) domains: 1)
the N domain (amino acid sequence: GDASE), containing the ATP-binding site; and 2) the P domain
(DKTGT) containing the phosphorylation site. Sequencing of lacking fragments of H. pomatia
Na,K-α is in progress.
Pupilloidea (Pupillidae, Vertiginidae, Valloniidae, Gastrocoptinae) of the Altay – a travel in
space and time
Pokryszko, Beata M. 1 ; Horsák, Michal 2
1. Museum of Natural History, Wrocław University, Sienkiewicza 21, 50-335 Wrocław, Poland,
Email: bepok@biol.uni.wroc.pl
2. Institute of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech
Republic,
Email: horsak@sci.muni.cz
Based on material collected during two expeditions (2005 and 2006) the following pupilloid species
were recorded from the Altay: Vallonia pulchella (O. F. Müller), V. kamtschatica Likharev, V.
costata (O. F. Müller), V. ladacensis (Nevill), V. tenuilabris (A. Braun), Gastrocopta theeli
(Westerlund), Vertigo substriata (Jeffreys), V. microsphaera Shileyko, V. pygmaea (Draparnaud), V.
ronnebyensis (Westerlund), V. genesii (Gredler), V. pseudosubstriata Ložek, V. parcedentata (A.
Braun), V. alpestris Alder, Vertigo n. sp., Columella edentula (Draparnaud), C. columella (Martens),
C. intermedia Skileyko et Almukhambetova, Truncatellina cylindrica (Férussac), Gibbulinopsis n.
sp., Pupilla muscorum (Linnaeus), P. alpicola (Charpentier), P. alabiella Shileyko, Pupilla n. sp. 1,
Pupilla n. sp. 2, Pupilla n. sp. 3. Of these 26 species 12 are extant in Europe (c. 5000 km away) or in
rather remote localities in Europe and Asia, eight only in Asia, while three are known from the
Pleistocene of Europe (two of these are extant also in other places in Asia, one in the mountains of
Asia and in an isolated site in Norway); another three are at present known only from the Altay. The
fairly numerous localities of species otherwise known from the Pleistocene of Europe (Vallonia
tenuilabris, Vertigo pseudosubstriata, Vertigo parcedentata) provided crucial information for
palaeoecological interpretation of European fossil sites. The rich material of Vertigo microsphaera
and Columella intermedia, previously known as single specimens, made it possible to provide more
precise descriptions and specify variability ranges of the species.
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