title: Molecular evolution of adiponectin in Carnivora and its mRNA expression in relation to hepatic lipidosis.
abstract: Adiponectin is a novel adipocyte-derived hormone with low circulating concentrations and/or mRNA expression in obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The adiponectin mRNA of several Carnivora species was sequenced to enable further gene expression studies in this clade with potential experimental species to examine the connections of hypoadiponectinemia to hepatic lipidosis. In addition, adiponectin mRNA expression was studied in the retroperitoneal fat of the American mink (Neovison vison), as hepatic lipidosis with close similarities to NAFLD can be rapidly induced to the species by fasting. The mRNA expression was determined after overnight-7d of food deprivation and 28d of re-feeding and correlated to the liver fat %. The homologies between the determined carnivoran mRNA sequences and that of the domestic dog were 92.2-99.1%. As the mRNA expression was not affected by short-term fasting and did not correlate with the liver fat %, there seems to be no clear connection between adiponectin and the development of lipidosis in the American mink. In the future, the obtained sequences can be utilized in further studies of adiponectin expression in comparative endocrinology.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine/Anatomy, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. petteri.nieminen@uef.fi
authors.forename: Petteri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: Kirsti
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rouvinen-Watt
authors.forename: Suvi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kapiainen
authors.forename: Lora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Anne-Mari
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mustonen
mesh_terms: D052242:Adiponectin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002335:Carnivora; D002417:Cattle; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010987:Platypus; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin; D012333:RNA, Messenger