Characterization, tissue distribution and regulation of neuropeptideY in Schizothorax prenanti

In this study, the full‐length neuropeptide Y ( npy ) complementary (c) DNA was cloned in ya fish Schizothorax prenanti . npy cDNA was composed of 789 nucleotides with a 288 nucleotide open reading frame encoding a protein of 96 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequences contained a 28 amino acids signal peptide followed by a 36 amino acids mature neuropeptide Y (NPY). The npy mRNA was expressed mainly in the brain and eye as detected by real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction RT‐PCR ( rt‐qPCR ). The S. prenanti NPY was detectable from blastulation to hatch, suggesting that npy might be involved in the late embryonic development of S. prenanti . An experiment was conducted to determine the expression profile of npy during feeding of a single meal and during long‐term fasting. The expression level of npy in fed fish was significantly decreased at 0·5, 1·5, 3 and 9 h post‐feeding (hpf) than in fasting fish. Fasting for 14 days induced an increase in npy messenger (m) RNA expression in the brain. Overall, the results suggest that NPY is a conserved peptide that might be involved in the regulation of feeding and other physiological function in S. prenanti .