title: Cloning, expression and growth promoting action of Red tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) neuropeptide Y.
abstract: Neuropeptide Y, a 36 amino acid peptide abundantly expressed in the brain, is the most potent orexigenic factor known to date in mammals. It has been shown to be one of the most conserved neuropeptides in vertebrate evolution. It seems that neuropeptide Y functions, in addition to sequence conservation, are also well conserved in fish. In the present study, we cloned and reported the cDNA sequence coding for tilapia 36 aminoacid neuropeptide Y. We express the tilapia neuropeptide Y gene in Escherichia coli driven by T7 promoter. The recombinant neuropeptide Y was purified up to 80% by affinity chromatography. We developed both, a food intake and a growth performance experiment to evaluate the effects of neuropeptide Y administration. Juvenile tilapia receiving recombinant neuropeptide Y (1 microg/g of body weight) by intraperitoneal injection increased food intake compared to controls (p < 0.05). Similarly, in the growth performance experiment, we observed an increase in body weight (p < 0.05) of tilapia fry receiving the same dose of the peptide. Neuropeptide Y treatment had no significant effect on hepatosomatic index and muscle moisture content. On the other hand, muscle protein content was increased in treated animals. These results demonstrate that administration of biologically active E. coli-derived neuropeptide Y resulted in a growth promoting action in fish.
authors.affiliation: Aquatic Biotechnology Department, Animal Biotechnology Division, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 6162, Havana, 10 600, Cuba.
authors.forename: Yamila
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Carpio
authors.forename: Jannel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Acosta
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.forename: Fidel
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.forename: Luis Javier
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Mario Pablo
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Estrada
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D017210:Tilapia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D011994:Recombinant Proteins