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Molecular characterization of the growth hormone in Chinese sturgeon and its expression during embryogenesis and early larval stages
Author(s) -
Cao H.,
Zhou R. J.,
Wei Q. W.,
Li C. J.,
Gui J. F.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied ichthyology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1439-0426
pISSN - 0175-8659
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2010.01665.x
Subject(s) - biology , sturgeon , complementary dna , polyclonal antibodies , open reading frame , embryo , microbiology and biotechnology , untranslated region , embryogenesis , signal peptide , messenger rna , peptide sequence , gene , biochemistry , genetics , antibody , fishery , fish <actinopterygii>
Summary Chinese sturgeon ( Acipenser sinensis Gray) has a fast growth rate starting in early larval stage. Likely, the fast growth is attributed to the growth hormone (GH); an essential polypeptide required for growth and development of vertebrates. In this study, GH cDNA was cloned from a pituitary library. The As GH cDNA consists approximately 954 bp in size including a 16 bp 5′‐untranslated region and 296 bp 3′‐untranslated region. The open reading frame (642 bp) encodes a 214 amino acids (aa), which represents the precursor composed of a 25 aa signal peptide followed by a 189 aa mature polypeptide. The polyclonal antibody was prepared from the in vitro expressed mature protein. Western blot analysis showed a constant GH expression of a monomeric form in the 13 embryo stages and in several larval stages. Interestingly, two dimeric bands of GH were detected since day 3 in the hatched larvae. Our findings suggest that the GH may play important physiological functions in embryonic and larval development of Chinese sturgeon.