Gene structure and expression of leptin in Chinese perch.
Leptin is an important hormone involved in regulation of food intake, energy expenditure and reproduction in mammals, but its role in acanthomorph fishes remains scant. In the present study, we characterized leptin gene structure and its tissue expression in Chinese perch (Siniperca chuatsi). In contrast to typical leptin gene organization of 3 exons and 2 introns in other vertebrates, Chinese perch leptin gene consisted of 2 exons and 1 intron. This is the first leptin gene characterized in Perciformes, and is also the first leptin gene lacking an intron reported in Perciformes. The unique gene structure, the conservation of both cysteines that form the single disulfide bridge in leptin, and stable clustering in phylogenetic analyses substantiate the unambiguous orthology of mammalian and fish leptins, despite low amino acid identity. Polymorphism of leptin gene was examined in wild and cultivated populations of Chinese perch by direct sequencing of 120 fish. No SNP was found in leptin gene. Leptin mRNA of Chinese perch was highly expressed in liver, and expressed at low levels in brain, visceral adipose tissue, intestine, spleen and muscle.
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, 430070 Wuhan, PR China. Electronic address: laile1985@163.com.
Shan
S
He
Xu-Fang
XF
Liang
Ling
L
Li
Wei
W
Huang
Dan
D
Shen
Ya-Xiong
YX
Tao
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020738:Leptin / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010471:Perches / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D020738:Leptin; D012333:RNA, Messenger
Chinese perch (Siniperca chuatsi); Gene structure; Leptin gene; Single nucleotide polymorphism; Tissue expression