Tion and phylogenetic analysis had been performed in MEGA application (version X) [60] with all the neighbour-joining technique and the Poisson model. Trees were validated with all the bootstrapping process using 1000 Bootstrap replications [61]. The annotation of protein characteristics was achieved with Various Sequence Alignment (MSA). Numerous sequence alignment was performed with ClustalO hosted on the EMBLEBI web page working with the default algorithm (ebi.ac.uk/Tools/, accessed on ten March 2022). The amino acid sequence of Gene_id_40363 was aligned together with the amino acid sequence with the best hit protein when queried against the swissprot database and closely related proteins identified in the constructed phylogenetic tree [25]. The annotation and display in the sequence alignment had been performed in GeneDoc (version 2.7). The molecular weight and isoelectric point (pI) of proteins had been determined utilizing the ProtParam tool out there on ExPASy (web.Alpha-Fetoprotein Protein custom synthesis expasy.org/protparam/, accessed on 15 March 2022). The three-dimensional (3D) model of Gene_id_40363 was generated with homology modelling performed in Iterative Threading ASSEmbly Refinement (I-TASSER; zhanglab.IL-17F Protein Source ccmb.med.umich.edu/I-TASSER, accessed on 15 March 2022) working with many sequences of crystalised proteins as a template [61,62]. The modelled structure was validated depending on the C-score (self-confidence score), TM-score (template modelling score), and RMSD (root-mean-square deviation), as previously described [62]. The final protein model was visualised and annotated in PyMOL version two.0 (Schrodinger New York, NY, USA). four.2.2. Amplification, Cloning, and Bacterial Transformation Gene_id_40363 was amplified in the slug’s gut metagenomic DNA making use of genespecific primers–FP: CACCATGAAACATGACCAC, RP: GCCTCATCGAAATAGTGC– as well as the following PCR circumstances: initial denaturation at 98 C for 1 min; 35 cycles of denaturation at 98 C for 40 s, an annealing temperature of 61 C for 30 s, and extension for 19 s at 72 C; as well as a final extension time of 10 min.PMID:28630660 PCR amplification was conducted having a high-fidelity thermostable DNA polymerase Q5 (NEB, Hitchin, UK) inside a 25 reaction containing 12.five of Q5 Hi-Fidelity 2X Master Mix, 1.25 of (10 forward and ten reverse primers), and 60 ng of template DNA. The PCR-amplified solution (654 bp) was cloned into an entry vector pENTR/SD/D/TOPO (ThermoFischer Scientific Leicester, UK) following the manufacturer’s protocol. To generate the recombinant expression vector (Figure 8), pENTR: Gene_id_40363 was recombined together with the location vector pDEST42 (ThermoFischer Scientific, Leicester, UK) following the manufacturer’sMolecules 2022, 27,a 25 reaction containing 12.five of Q5 Hi-Fidelity 2X Master Mix, 1.25 of (10 forward and ten reverse primers), and 60 ng of template DNA. The PCR-amplified solution (654 bp) was cloned into an entry vector pENTR/SD/D/TOPO (ThermoFischer Scientific Leicester, UK) following the manufacturer’s protocol. To generate the recombinant expression vector (Figure 8), pENTR: 11 of 16 Gene_id_40363 was recombined together with the location vector pDEST42 (ThermoFischer Scientific, Leicester, UK) following the manufacturer’s protocol. The recombinant expression vector was utilised to transform Escherichia coli (E. coli) DE3 cells. The desired transformant protocol. The recombinant expression vectorsequencing. transform Escherichia coli (E. coli) DE3 was screened with restriction digest and was made use of to cells. The preferred transformant was screened with restriction digest a.