Characterization, Expression Profile, and Promoter Analysis of the Rhodeus uyekii Vitellogenin Ao1 Gene

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Hee Jeong Kong²  Ju Lan Kim²  Ji Young Moon²  Woo-Jin Kim²  Hyung Soo Kim²  Jung Youn Park²  Hyun Kook Cho¹  Cheul Min An² 

[1] Department of Molecular Biology, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea;Biotechnology Research Division, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Busan 619-705, Korea; E-Mails:

关键词: 17β-Estradiol;    17α-Ethinylestradiol;    Korean rose bitterling;    promoter assay;    Rhodeus uyekii;    vitellogenin;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms151018804

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The fish Vitellogenin (Vg) gene has been applied as a biomarker for exposure to estrogenic compounds in the aquatic environment. In this study, we cloned and characterized Vg cDNA from the Korean rose bitterling Rhodeus uyekii (Ru-Vg). The Ru-Vg cDNA encodes a 1424-amino-acid polypeptide that belongs to the VgAo1 family and contains a putative signal peptide, lipovitellin I, phosvitin, and lipovitellin II, but does not contain the vWFD domain or the C-terminal peptide. The deduced Ru-Vg protein has high amino acid identity (73.97%–32.17%) with fish Vg proteins. Pairwise alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that Ru-Vg is most closely related to Acheilognathus yamatsutae Vg. Ru-Vg transcripts were detected using quantitative polymerase chain reaction in all tissues tested, with the highest level of expression observed in the ovary. Ru-Vg mRNA was upregulated in R. uyekii hepatopancreas cells in response to treatment with 17β-estradiol (E2) or 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). Luciferase reporter expression, driven by the 5'-regulatory region of the Ru-Vg gene spanning from −1020 bp to the start codon was induced by the estrogen receptor and was synergistically activated by treatment with E2 or EE2. These results suggest that R. uyekii and the Ru-Vg gene may be useful as biomarkers for exposure to E2 or EE2.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.