Identification of zebrafish magnetoreceptor and cryptochrome homologs.
Magnetoreception is essential for magnetic orientation in animal migration. The molecular basis for magnetoreception has recently been elucidated in fruitfly as complexes between the magnetic receptor magnetoreceptor (MagR) and its ligand cryptochrome (Cry). MagR and Cry are present in the animal kingdom. However, it is unknown whether they perform a conserved role in diverse animals. Here we report the identification and expression of zebrafish MagR and Cry homologs towards understanding their roles in lower vertebrates. A single magr gene and 7 cry genes are present in the zebrafish genome. Zebrafish has four cry1 genes (cry1aa, cry1ab, cry1ba and cry1bb) homologous to human CRY1 and a single ortholog of human CRY2 as well as 2 cry-like genes (cry4 and cry5). By RT-PCR, magr exhibited a high level of ubiquitous RNA expression in embryos and adult organs, whereas cry genes displayed differential embryonic and adult expression. Importantly, magr depletion did not produce apparent abnormalities in organogenesis. Taken together, magr and cry2 exist as a single copy gene, whereas cry1 exists as multiple gene duplicates in zebrafish. Our result suggests that magr may play a dispensable role in organogenesis and predicts a possibility to generate magr mutants for analyzing its role in zebrafish.
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Developmental Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China.|Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117543, Singapore.
Zuoqiong
Z
Zhou
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Developmental Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China.|Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117543, Singapore.
Xiyang
X
Peng
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117543, Singapore.
Jianbin
J
Chen
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Developmental Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China.
Xiushan
X
Wu
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Developmental Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China. yuequnwang@hunnu.edu.cn.
Yuequn
Y
Wang
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117543, Singapore. dbshyh@nus.edu.sg.
Yunhan
Y
Hong
D000818:Animals; D056931:Cryptochromes / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008280:Magnetics; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000235:genetics; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
D056931:Cryptochromes; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; C000621220:isca1 protein, zebrafish
MagR; cryptochrome; magnetoreception; ortholog