Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted ascending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| molecular cloning of a novel lipocalin-1 interacting human cell membrane receptor using phage display. | human lipocalin-1 (lcn-1, also called tear lipocalin), a member of the lipocalin structural superfamily, is produced by a number of glands and tissues and is known to bind an unusually large array of hydrophobic ligands. apart from its specific function in stabilizing the lipid film of human tear fluid, it is suggested to act as a physiological scavenger of potentially harmful lipophilic compounds, in general. to characterize proteins involved in the reception, detoxification, or degradation of ... | 2001 | 11287427 |
| experimental infection of several fish species with the causative agent of kuchijirosho (snout ulcer disease) derived from the tiger puffer takifugu rubripes. | kuchijirosho (snout ulcer disease) is a fatal epidemic disease which affects the tiger puffer, takifugu rubripes, a commercial fish species in japan and korea. to assess the possibility that non-tiger puffer fish can serve as reservoirs of infection, 5 fish species were challenged by infection with the extracts of kuchijirosho-affected brains from cultured tiger puffer: grass puffer t. niphobles, fine-patterned puffer t. poecilonotus, panther puffer t. pardalis, red sea bream pagrus major, and b ... | 2001 | 11804418 |
| xena, a full-length basal retroelement from tetraodontid fish. | mobile genetic elements are ubiquitous throughout the eukaryote superkingdom. we have sequenced a highly unusual full-length retroelement from the fugu fish, takifugu rubripes. this element, which we have named xena, is similar in structure and sequence to the penelope retroelement from drosophila virilis and consists of a single long open reading frame containing a reverse transcriptase domain flanked by identical direct long terminal repeat (ltr) sequences. these ltrs show an organization simi ... | 2002 | 11861884 |
| genomic structure and evolutionary conservation of the tyrosinase gene family from fugu. | the tyrosinase gene family encompasses three members, tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein 1 (tyrp1) and dopachrome tautomerase (dct), which encode for proteins implicated in melanin synthesis. in human and mouse, genomic organization is known for all three genes, revealing common features of regulatory elements and of exon/intron structure. we have set out to identify the complete family from a more primitive vertebrate, the pufferfish fugu (takifugu rubripes), which is characterized by a com ... | 2002 | 12039032 |
| identification of tetrodotoxin and fish species in a dried dressed fish fillet implicated in food poisoning. | there were five victims of neurotoxic food poisoning from a dried dressed fish fillet in changhua county, taiwan, in february 2000. the toxicity of the dried dressed fish fillets was 243 mouse units per g according to a tetrodotoxin bioassay. the partially purified toxin was identified as tetrodotoxin and anhydrotetrodotoxin. the sequence of the 376-nucleotide region in the cytochrome b gene of the mitochondrial dna exhibited the same genotype as that of the toxic puffer fish lagocephalus lunari ... | 2002 | 11848573 |
| impacts of diclidophorid monogenean infections on fisheries in japan. | many monogeneans are pathogenic to economically important fish in japan. however no other monogenean is comparable with the diclidophorids, heterobothrium okamotoi and neoheterobothrium hirame, on the scale of impacts they inflict on japanese fisheries. the shared importance of the two monogenean infections lies in their pathogenicity, fecundity and tolerance to chemical treatment. heterobothrium okamotoi infects the gills and wall of the branchial cavity of the tiger puffer, takifugu rubripes ( ... | 2002 | 11835977 |
| genome duplication, a trait shared by 22000 species of ray-finned fish. | through phylogeny reconstruction we identified 49 genes with a single copy in man, mouse, and chicken, one or two copies in the tetraploid frog xenopus laevis, and two copies in zebrafish (danio rerio). for 22 of these genes, both zebrafish duplicates had orthologs in the pufferfish (takifugu rubripes). for another 20 of these genes, we found only one pufferfish ortholog but in each case it was more closely related to one of the zebrafish duplicates than to the other. forty-three pairs of duplic ... | 2003 | 12618368 |
| are all fishes ancient polyploids? | euteleost fishes seem to have more copies of many genes than their tetrapod relatives. three different mechanisms could explain the origin of these 'extra' fish genes. the duplicates may have been produced during a fish-specific genome duplication event. a second explanation is an increased rate of independent gene duplications in fish. a third possibility is that after gene or genome duplication events in the common ancestor of fish and tetrapods, the latter lost more genes. these three hypothe ... | 2003 | 12836686 |
| susceptibility of cultured juveniles of several marine fish to the sevenband grouper nervous necrosis virus. | piscine nodaviruses (betanodaviruses) have been tentatively divided into four genotypes (sjnnv, rgnnv, tpnnv and bfnnv) and it is suggested that host specificity is different among these genotypes. in the present study, a betanodavirus [sevenband grouper nervous necrosis virus (sgnnv)] belonging to the redspotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (rgnnv) genotype, to which most betanodaviruses from warm water fish are identified, was evaluated for its pathogenicity to hatchery-reared juveniles of s ... | 2003 | 12962219 |
| mucus ph of the tiger puffer takifugu rubripes is an important factor for host identification by the monogenean heterobothrium okamotoi. | we examined a host-finding factor of the monogenean heterobothrium okamotoi oncomiracidia to develop an alternative prophylaxis. h. okamotoi oncomiracidia attached preferentially to gill filaments and skin mucus from the tiger puffer takifugu rubripes compared with corresponding material from other tested fishes (amber jack seriola dumerili, red sea bream pagrus major, japanese flounder paralichthys olivaceus and spotted halibut verasper variegatus). the body mucus ph of the tiger puffer was 6.4 ... | 2003 | 12964825 |
| molecular diversity of skin mucus lectins in fish. | among lectins in the skin mucus of fish, primary structures of four different types of lectin have been determined. congerin from the conger eel conger myriaster and ajl-1 from the japanese eel anguilla japonica were identified as galectin, characterized by its specific binding to beta-galactoside. eel has additionally a unique lectin, ajl-2, which has a highly conserved sequence of c-type lectins but displays ca(2+)-independent activity. this is rational because the lectin exerts its function o ... | 2003 | 14662297 |
| identification and comparative analysis of the rpl14 gene from takifugu rubripes. | the ribosomal protein rpl14 gene has been characterized in several species, including, human, rat and fruit fly. haploinsufficiency for the gene causes the minute phenotype in drosophila, and it has been proposed as a regulator in the tumorigenic pathway in human. several features concerning the gene structure have been studied, and some of these differ between human/rat and drosophila. to address functional and evolutionary questions about these differences we have isolated and sequenced a cdna ... | 2003 | 15061815 |
| characterization of hey bhlh genes in teleost fish. | hairy-related basic helix-loop-helix (bhlh) transcription factors are targets of delta-notch signaling and represent essential components for a number of cell fate decisions during vertebrate embryogenesis. hey genes encode a subfamily of hairy-related proteins that have been implicated in processes like somitogenesis, blood vessel and heart development. we have identified and characterized hey genes in three teleost fish lineages using degenerate pcr and database searches. phylogenetic analysis ... | 2003 | 14593478 |
| structure and evolution of the teleost extraretinal rod-like opsin (errlo) and ocular rod opsin (rho) genes: is teleost rho a retrogene? | in teleost fish examined to date the ocular rod opsin gene, rho, is intronless, unlike the rod opsin genes of other vertebrate classes which possess a five exon/four intron structure. we have examined in silico the structure of rho (which is expressed uniquely in the retina) and the closely related extraretinal rod-like opsin (exo-rhodopsin) gene, errlo (which is expressed uniquely in the pineal), in the puffer-fish, fugu rubripes (takifugu rubripes). whilst the ocular rho is intronless in commo ... | 2003 | 13677319 |
| molecular evolutionary analysis of the widespread piggybac transposon family and related "domesticated" sequences. | piggybac is a short inverted-repeat-type dna transposable element originally isolated from the genome of the moth trichoplusia ni. it is currently the gene vector of choice for the transformation of various insect species. a few sequences with similarity to piggybac have previously been identified from organisms such as humans ( looper), the pufferfish takifugu rubripes ( pigibaku), xenopus ( tx), daphnia ( pokey), and the oriental fruit fly bactrocera dorsalis. we have now identified 50 piggyba ... | 2003 | 12955498 |
| four functionally distinct c-type natriuretic peptides found in fish reveal evolutionary history of the natriuretic peptide system. | natriuretic peptides (nps) are major cardiovascular and osmoregulatory hormones in vertebrates. although tetrapods generally have three subtypes, atrial np (anp), b-type np (bnp), and c-type np (cnp), some teleosts lack bnp, and sharks and hagfish have only one np. thus, nps have diverged during fish evolution, possibly reflecting changes in osmoregulatory systems. in this study, we found, by cdna cloning, four distinct cnps (1 through 4) in the medaka (oryzias latipes) and puffer fish (takifugu ... | 2003 | 12893874 |
| regulatory roles of conserved intergenic domains in vertebrate dlx bigene clusters. | dlx homeobox genes of vertebrates are generally arranged as three bigene clusters on distinct chromosomes. the dlx1/dlx2, dlx5/dlx6, and dlx3/dlx7 clusters likely originate from duplications of an ancestral dlx gene pair. overlaps in expression are often observed between genes from the different clusters. to determine if the overlaps are a result of the conservation of enhancer sequences between paralogous clusters, we compared the dlx1/2 and the dlx5/dlx6 intergenic regions from human, mouse, z ... | 2003 | 12670995 |
| comparative analysis of vertebrate shh genes identifies novel conserved non-coding sequence. | the puffer fish takifugu rubripes (fugu), with its compact genome, is an ideal model organism for comparative genomics. sonic hedgehog (shh) is a key protein in the patterning of differentiating cells during embryonic development. we have sequenced the fugu shh gene and compared it with the mammalian and zebrafish orthologs, identifying a number of novel conserved, non-coding sequences upstream of exon one and within the two introns. additional conserved sequences serve to delineate activator re ... | 2003 | 12647242 |
| molecular cloning of the pufferfish (takifugu rubripes) mx gene and functional characterization of its promoter. | mx proteins are members of a family of interferon-inducible genes that are expressed by cells in response to viral infection. they are important determinants of innate immunity against viral infection in vertebrates. we cloned the pufferfish ( takifugu rubripes) mx gene and sequenced 80 kb from the mx locus. the fugu mx gene spans 3.4 kb from the transcription start site to the polyadenylation signal, and is made up of 12 exons and 11 introns. the protein sequence encoded by the fugu mx gene is ... | 2003 | 12557057 |
| strong conservation of the human nf2 locus based on sequence comparison in five species. | we analyzed 137 kb covering human neurofibromatosis 2 ( nf2) tumor suppressor locus and orthologous loci from baboon, mouse, rat, and pufferfish takifugu rubripes. a predominant feature of human-rodent conservation is a very similar distribution of conserved islands, regarding length, position, and degree of identity. by use of a threshold of 75% identity over > or =100 bp of gap-free alignment, comparisons of human-mouse sequences resulted in 3.58% for extra-exonic conservation, which can be co ... | 2003 | 12925885 |
| genome mapping of the orange blotch colour pattern in cichlid fishes. | the dramatic variation of cichlid fish colour pattern is thought to function in mate choice, evolve by sexual selection, and contribute to explosive speciation. here, we combine linkage mapping and population genetic analyses to identify a single region of the cichlid genome responsible for the orange blotch (ob) colour phenotype. in each analysis, ob is tightly linked to the c-ski1 gene. additionally, we use comparative mapping information from the takifugu rubripes and human genomes to suggest ... | 2003 | 12919484 |
| genomics and mapping of teleostei (bony fish). | until recently, the human genome project held centre stage in the press releases concerning sequencing programmes. however, in october 2001, it was announced that the japanese puffer fish (takifugu rubripes, fugu) was the second vertebrate organism to be sequenced to draft quality. briefly, the spotlight was on fish genomes. there are currently two other fish species undergoing intensive sequencing, the green spotted puffer fish (tetraodon nigroviridis) and the zebrafish (danio rerio). but this ... | 2003 | 18629122 |
| identification of a novel adrenomedullin gene family in teleost fish. | adrenomedullin (am) is a multifunctional peptide known to form a hormone family with calcitonin gene-related peptide (cgrp) and amylin. we have cloned five distinct am cdnas from the pufferfish, takifugu rubripes, and named them tram-1, -2, -3, -4, and -5. judging from the deduced precursor sequences and processing pattern of the c-terminal mature peptides, trams may be divided into at least two groups; am-2 and -3, and am-1, -4, and possibly -5. phylogenetic analysis of the mature peptides, exo ... | 2003 | 14623291 |
| an active non-ltr retrotransposon with tandem structure in the compact genome of the pufferfish tetraodon nigroviridis. | the fish retrotransposable element zebulon encodes a reverse transcriptase and a carboxy-terminal restriction enzyme-like endonuclease, and is related phylogenetically to site-specific non-ltr retrotransposons from nematodes. zebulon was detected in the pufferfishes tetraodon nigroviridis and takifugu rubripes, as well as in the zebrafish danio rerio. structural analysis suggested that zebulon, in contrast to most non-ltr retrotransposons, might be able to retrotranspose as a partial tandem arra ... | 2003 | 12805276 |
| a single amino acid substitution can shift the optimum ph of dnase i for enzyme activity: biochemical and molecular analysis of the piscine dnase i family. | we purified four piscine deoxyribonucleases i (dnases i) from anguilla japonica, pagrus major, cryprus carpio and oreochromis mossambica. the purified enzymes had an optimum ph for activity of approximately 8.0, significantly higher than those of mammalian enzymes. cdnas encoding the first three of these piscine dnases i were cloned, and the sequence of the takifugu rubripes enzyme was obtained from a database search. nucleotide sequence analyses revealed relatively greater structural variations ... | 2004 | 15182937 |
| gonadotropin hormone and receptor sequences from model teleost species. | fish offer some advantages for the study of vertebrate reproductive physiology. only a few of the genes encoding the components of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis have been identified from model teleosts. this study describes a combination of database searching and molecular approaches to identify the fsh and lh gonadotropin beta-subunits (fshb and lhb, respectively), and the lh receptor (lhr) from two model teleost species: zebrafish (danio rerio) and fugu (takifugu rubripes). sequence ... | 2004 | 18248232 |
| the irx gene family in zebrafish: genomic structure, evolution and initial characterization of irx5b. | genes of the iroquois ( iro/irx) family are highly conserved from drosophila to mammals and they have been implicated in a number of developmental processes. in flies, the iro genes participate in patterning events in the early larva and in imaginal disk specification. in vertebrates, the irx genes regulate developmental events during gastrulation, nervous system regionalization, activation of proneural genes and organ patterning. the iro genes in drosophila and the irx genes of mammals show a c ... | 2004 | 15064948 |
| genomic characterization and expression analysis of the first nonmammalian renin genes from zebrafish and pufferfish. | renin is a key enzyme in the renin-angiotensin system (ras), a pathway which plays an important physiological role in blood pressure and electrolyte homeostasis. the origin of the ras is believed to have accompanied early evolution of vertebrates. however, renin genes have so far only been unequivocally identified in mammals. whether or not a bona fide renin gene exists in nonmammalian vertebrates has been an intriguing question of physiological and evolutionary interest. using a genomic analyti ... | 2004 | 14645735 |
| cytosine methylation and cpg, tpg (cpa) and tpa frequencies. | an analysis of dinucleotide frequencies was carried out on dnas from insects and mammals, as well as on large dna sequences from the genomes of drosophila melanogaster, anopheles gambiae, puffer fish (takifugu rubripes), zebra fish (danio rerio) and human. these organisms were chosen because drosophila and anopheles dnas have an extremely low level of methylation, human dna a high level and fish dna a two-fold higher level compared to human. the results indicate that: (i) cpg deficiency and the ... | 2004 | 15177689 |
| an enigmatic fourth runt domain gene in the fugu genome: ancestral gene loss versus accelerated evolution. | the runt domain transcription factors are key regulators of developmental processes in bilaterians, involved both in cell proliferation and differentiation, and their disruption usually leads to disease. three runt domain genes have been described in each vertebrate genome (the runx gene family), but only one in other chordates. therefore, the common ancestor of vertebrates has been thought to have had a single runt domain gene. | 2004 | 15527507 |
| identification of nogo-66 receptor (ngr) and homologous genes in fish. | the nogo-66 receptor ngr has been implicated in the mediation of inhibitory effects of central nervous system (cns) myelin on axon growth in the adult mammalian cns. ngr binds to several myelin-associated ligands (nogo-66, myelin associated glycoprotein, and oligodendrocyte-myelin glycoprotein), which, among other inhibitory proteins, impair axonal regeneration in the cns of adult mammals. in contrast to mammals, severed axons readily regenerate in the fish cns. nevertheless, fish axons are repe ... | 2004 | 12949137 |
| the melanocortin system in fugu: determination of pomc/agrp/mcr gene repertoire and synteny, as well as pharmacology and anatomical distribution of the mcrs. | the g-protein-coupled melanocortin receptors (mcrs) play an important role in a variety of essential functions such as the regulation of pigmentation, energy homeostasis, and steroid production. we performed a comprehensive characterization of the mc system in fugu (takifugu rubripes). we show that fugu has an agrp gene with high degree of conservation in the c-terminal region in addition to a pomc gene lacking gamma-msh. the fugu genome contains single copies of four mcrs, whereas the mc3r is m ... | 2004 | 14694081 |
| identification and characterization of two parathyroid hormone-like molecules in zebrafish. | zebrafish (danio rerio) have receptors homologous to the human pth (hpth)/pthrp receptor (pth1r) and pth-2 receptor (pth2r) and an additional receptor (pth3r) with high homology to the pth1r. to find natural ligands for zpth1r and zpth3r, we searched the zebrafish genomic database and discovered two distinct regions that, when translated (zpth1 and zpth2), showed high homology to hpth. isolation of cdnas and determination of the intron/exon boundaries revealed genomic structures which were simil ... | 2004 | 14684608 |
| comparative analysis of two slc11 (nramp) loci in takifugu rubripes. | to study the evolution of the solute carrier family 11 (slc11; formerly nramp) protein, we isolated and characterized two paralogs from the pufferfish takifugu rubripes (fugu). these teleost genes, designated fugu slc11a-a and fugu slc11a-b, comprise open reading frames of 1743 nucleotides (581 amino acids) and 1662 nt (554 aa), respectively. the proteins are 81% similar, and both exhibit signature features of the slc11 family of proteins including 12 transmembrane domains, a conserved transport ... | 2004 | 14965472 |
| major events in the genome evolution of vertebrates: paranome age and size differ considerably between ray-finned fishes and land vertebrates. | it has been suggested that fish have more genes than humans. whether most of these additional genes originated through a complete (fish-specific) genome duplication or through many lineage-specific tandem gene or smaller block duplications and family expansions continues to be debated. we analyzed the complete genome of the pufferfish takifugu rubripes (fugu) and compared it with the paranome of humans. we show that most paralogous genes of fugu are the result of three complete genome duplicatio ... | 2004 | 14757817 |
| developmental roles of pufferfish hox clusters and genome evolution in ray-fin fish. | the pufferfish skeleton lacks ribs and pelvic fins, and has fused bones in the cranium and jaw. it has been hypothesized that this secondarily simplified pufferfish morphology is due to reduced complexity of the pufferfish hox complexes. to test this hypothesis, we determined the genomic structure of hox clusters in the southern pufferfish spheroides nephelus and interrogated genomic databases for the japanese pufferfish takifugu rubripes (fugu). both species have at least seven hox clusters, in ... | 2004 | 14707165 |
| monoclonal antibodies recognising serum immunoglobulins and surface immunoglobulin-positive cells of puffer fish, torafugu (takifugu rubripes). | immunoglobulin of the torafugu, takifugu rubripes, was purified by a combination of precipitation by low ionic strength dialysis and gel filtration. the ig was used to immunise mice for the production of monoclonal antibody (mab). supernatants of hybridoma cultures were screened by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using purified-torafugu ig-coated plates, and two stable hybridomas producing mabs against torafugu ig were obtained. sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under ... | 2004 | 15276601 |
| [toxicity of puffer fish cultured in netcages]. | during 1990 to 2003, the toxicity of the liver in 4,515 specimens of the puffer fish takifugu rubripes (torafugu) cultured in netcages or on land were investigated by means of mouse bioassay and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (lc/ms). other tissues (skin, muscles, gonads, etc.) were also investigated in some of them. all the livers and other parts examined were found to be non-toxic. the peak corresponding to tetrodotoxin (ttx) was not detected in the samples by lc/ms analysis for ttx ( ... | 2004 | 15468934 |
| identification and characterization of the zebrafish and fugu genes encoding tuberoinfundibular peptide 39. | although the pth type 2 receptor (pth2r) has been isolated from mammals and zebrafish, only its mammalian agonist, tuberoinfundibular peptide 39 (tip39), has been characterized thus far. to determine whether zebrafish tip39 (ztip39) functions similarly with the zebrafish pthr (zpth2r) and human pth2rs and to determine its tissue-specific expression, fugu (takifugu rubripes) and zebrafish (danio rerio) genomic databases were screened with human tip39 (htip39) sequences. a single tip39 gene was id ... | 2004 | 15297442 |
| global heterochromatic colocalization of transposable elements with minisatellites in the compact genome of the pufferfish tetraodon nigroviridis. | because of its unusual high degree of compaction and paucity of repetitive sequences, the genome of the smooth pufferfish tetraodon nigroviridis is the subject of a well-advanced sequencing project. an astonishing diversity of transposable elements not found in the human and the mouse has been observed in the genome of t. nigroviridis. due to the difficulty of assembling repeat-rich regions, the whole genome shotgun sequencing approach will probably fail to reveal the general organisation of thi ... | 2004 | 15246529 |
| pattern of divergence of amino acid sequences encoded by paralogous genes in human and pufferfish. | we used phylogenetic analyses of protein families containing two or more pairs of orthologues in the genomes of human and pufferfish (takifugu rubripes) to test the hypothesis that these sequences show a strong signal of polyploidization events hypothesized to have occurred early in vertebrate history. in order to test for evidence of two distinct rounds of polyploidization (the 2r hypothesis), we compared the pattern of amino acid sequence divergence of proteins encoded by genes duplicated just ... | 2004 | 15186818 |
| molecular cloning and sequencing of japanese pufferfish (takifugu rubripes) nadph oxidase cdnas. | the superoxide-producing nadph oxidase complex of phagocytes plays a crucial role in host defenses against microbial infection. nadph oxidase consists of a membrane heterodimeric protein, composed of gp91phox and p22phox, and cytosolic proteins, p40phox, p47phox and p67phox. in the present study, cdnas of all the components of nadph oxidase were cloned from peripheral white blood cells of the japanese pufferfish utilizing the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. the sequences of thes ... | 2004 | 15183032 |
| identification of cdna coding for a homologue to mammalian leptin from pufferfish, takifugu rubripes. | we identified cdna coding for a homologue to mammalian leptin in puffer, takifugu rubripes, using genomic synteny around the human leptin gene. in addition to significant sequence homologies, the puffer leptin (plep) displays characteristic structural features in common with mammalian leptin. the plep mrna was expressed mostly in the liver that contained abundant lipids. in addition, homologues to plep were found in the databanks for three fish species (salmon, medaka, and tetraodon) and two amp ... | 2005 | 15808904 |
| evolution of vertebrate e protein transcription factors: comparative analysis of the e protein gene family in takifugu rubripes and humans. | e proteins are essential for b lymphocyte development and function, including immunoglobulin (ig) gene rearrangement and expression. previous studies of b cells in the channel catfish (ictalurus punctatus) identified e protein homologs that are capable of binding the mue5 motif and driving a strong transcriptional response. there are three e protein genes in mammals, heb (tcf12), e2a (tcf3), and e2-2 (tcf4). the major expressed e proteins found in catfish b cells are homologs of heb and of e2a. ... | 2005 | 15713784 |
| vertebrate 2xrbd hnrnp proteins: a comparative analysis of genome, mrna and protein sequences. | hnrnp proteins are involved in many cell functions, primarily in pre-mrna processing. we report here a comparative analysis of the genes of the 2xrbd members of the hnrnp family and of their expression products. starting from the seven well characterized hnrnp members of human and murine origin (a0, a1, a2/b1, a3, ab, d and dl) and the three musashi-like proteins with related rbd tandems (msi1, msi2 and dazap1), we identified through blast search 12 homologous genes in the genome of danio rerio ... | 2005 | 15680582 |
| molecular cloning and functional characterization of a high-affinity zinc importer (drzip1) from zebrafish (danio rerio). | zinc is a vital micronutrient to all organisms and a potential toxicant to aquatic animals. it is therefore of importance to understand the mechanism of zinc regulation. in the present study, we molecularly cloned and functionally characterized a zinc transporter of the slc39a family [commonly referred to as the zip (zrt- and irt-related protein) family] from the gill of zebrafish (danio rerio) (drzip1). drzip1 protein was found to localize at the plasma membrane and to function as a zinc uptake ... | 2005 | 15683366 |
| molecular cloning and expression analysis of a macrophage-colony stimulating factor receptor-like gene from rainbow trout, oncorhynchus mykiss. | the m-csf and its receptor (m-csfr, csf-1r or c-fms proto-oncogene) system were initially implicated as essential in mammals for normal monocyte development as well as for pregnancy. to allow a comparison with the m-csf and m-csfr system of an oviparous animal, we cloned a m-csfr-like gene from rainbow trout (oncorhynchus mykiss). the gene was cloned from a cdna library of head kidney. it contained an open reading frame encoding 967 amino acids with a predicted size of 109 kda. the putative amin ... | 2005 | 15488938 |
| unusual genomic structure: melanocortin receptors in fugu. | the melanocortin (mc) receptors are found in five subtypes in mammals and chicken, while recent studies have shown that the fugu (takifugu rubripes) genome has only four mc receptors and the zebrafish genome has six subtypes. the mc3 receptor seems to be missing from the two closely related pufferfishes, fugu and tetraodon (tetraodon nigroviridis). the mc2 and mc5 receptors in the pufferfish have introns. moreover, these two receptors are found in a tandem that is remarkably conserved in several ... | 2005 | 15891089 |
| functional expression of a low-affinity zinc uptake transporter (frzip2) from pufferfish (takifugu rubripes) in mdck cells. | zinc is a vital micronutrient to all organisms and it is therefore very important to determine the mechanisms that regulate cellular zinc uptake. previously, we reported on zinc uptake transporters from zebrafish (danio rerio; drzip1) and fugu pufferfish (takifugu rubripes; frzip1) that facilitated cellular zinc uptake of high affinity (k(m)<0.5 microm) in both chse214 [chinook salmon (oncorhynchus tshawytscha) embryonic 214] cells and xenopus laevis oocytes. to investigate additional biochemica ... | 2005 | 15907194 |
| inparanoid: a comprehensive database of eukaryotic orthologs. | the inparanoid eukaryotic ortholog database (http://inparanoid.cgb.ki.se/) is a collection of pairwise ortholog groups between 17 whole genomes; anopheles gambiae, caenorhabditis briggsae, caenorhabditis elegans, drosophila melanogaster, danio rerio, takifugu rubripes, gallus gallus, homo sapiens, mus musculus, pan troglodytes, rattus norvegicus, oryza sativa, plasmodium falciparum, arabidopsis thaliana, escherichia coli, saccharomyces cerevisiae and schizosaccharomyces pombe. complete proteomes ... | 2005 | 15608241 |
| evolution of the relaxin-like peptide family. | the relaxin-like peptide family belongs in the insulin superfamily and consists of 7 peptides of high structural but low sequence similarity; relaxin-1, 2 and 3, and the insulin-like (insl) peptides, insl3, insl4, insl5 and insl6. the functions of relaxin-3, insl4, insl5, insl6 remain uncharacterised. the evolution of this family has been contentious; high sequence variability is seen between closely related species, while distantly related species show high similarity; an invertebrate relaxin s ... | 2005 | 15707501 |
| in vivo characterization of a vertebrate ultraconserved enhancer. | genomic sequence comparisons among human, mouse, and pufferfish (takifugu rubripes (fugu)) have revealed a set of extremely conserved noncoding sequences. while this high degree of sequence conservation suggests severe evolutionary constraint and predicts a lack of tolerance to change to retain in vivo functionality, such elements have been minimally explored experimentally. in this study, we describe the in-depth characterization of an ancient conserved enhancer, dc2, located near the dachshund ... | 2005 | 15885503 |
| the repertoire of trace amine g-protein-coupled receptors: large expansion in zebrafish. | trace amines, such as tyramine, beta-phenylethylamine, tryptamine, and octopamine, are present in trace levels in nervous systems and bind a specific family of g-protein-coupled receptors (gpcr), but the function or origin of this system is not well understood. we searched the genomes of several eukaryotic species for receptors similar to the mammalian trace amine (ta) receptor subfamily. we identified 18 new receptors in rodents that are orthologous to the previously known ta-receptors. remarka ... | 2005 | 15804416 |
| agouti-related proteins (agrps) and agouti-signaling peptide (asip) in fish and chicken. | we performed an intensive search on sequence databases to identify orthologues of asip and agrp peptides in a number of different species, revealing a number of genomic fragments coding for the c-terminal part of agouti-related motifs, different from annotated peptide sequences, including one fragment from chicken, two from zebrafish, two from fugu (takifugu rubripes), and three from tetraodon (tetraodon nigroviridis). we have thus shown for the first time that both agrp and asip genes exist in ... | 2005 | 15891063 |
| striking nucleotide frequency pattern at the borders of highly conserved vertebrate non-coding sequences. | in a recent study, 1373 highly conserved non-coding elements (cnes) were detected by aligning the human and takifugu rubripes (fugu) genomes. the remarkable degree of sequence conservation in cnes compared with their surroundings suggested comparing the base composition within cnes with their 5' and 3' flanking regions. the analysis reveals a novel, sharp and distinct signal of nucleotide frequency bias precisely at the border between cnes and flanking regions. | 2005 | 15979195 |
| subfunctionalization of expression and peptide domains following the ancient duplication of the proopiomelanocortin gene in teleost fishes. | the proopiomelanocortin gene (pomc) encodes several bioactive peptides, including adrenocorticotropin hormone, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and the opioid peptide beta-endorphin, which play key roles in vertebrate physiology. in the human, mouse, and chicken genomes, there is only one pomc gene. by searching public genome projects, we have found that tetraodon (tetraodon nigroviridis), fugu (takifugu rubripes), and zebrafish (danio rerio) possess two pomc genes, which ... | 2005 | 16093565 |
| the evolution of vertebrate toll-like receptors. | the complete sequences of takifugu toll-like receptor (tlr) loci and gene predictions from many draft genomes enable comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis. strong selective pressure for recognition of and response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns has maintained a largely unchanging tlr recognition in all vertebrates. there are six major families of vertebrate tlrs. this repertoire is distinct from that of invertebrates. tlrs within a family recognize a general class of pathogen- ... | 2005 | 15976025 |
| structural analysis of cdnas coding for 4snc-tudor domain protein from fish and their expression in yellowtail organs. | we cloned complementary dnas for 4snc-tudor protein (sn4tdr) from yellowtail (seriola quinqueradiata), torafugu (takifugu rubripes), and zebrafish (danio rerio). this protein contains 4 staphylococcal nuclease domains at the n terminus followed by a tudor domain. we also identified the 4snc-tudor proteins highly homologous to that in yellowtail from the takifugu genomic database. according to the smart database, these fish proteins had an overlapping tudor domain (smart00333) with a complete 5 s ... | 2005 | 16132464 |
| expression and genomic organization of zonadhesin-like genes in three species of fish give insight into the evolutionary history of a mosaic protein. | the mosaic sperm protein zonadhesin (zan) has been characterized in mammals and is implicated in species-specific egg-sperm binding interactions. the genomic structure and testes-specific expression of zonadhesin is known for many mammalian species. all zonadhesin genes characterized to date consist of meprin a5 antigen receptor tyrosine phosphatase mu (mam) domains, mucin tandem repeats, and von willebrand (vwd) adhesion domains. here we investigate the genomic structure and expression of zonad ... | 2005 | 16303057 |
| duplicated cytoglobin genes in teleost fishes. | cytoglobin is a recently discovered myoglobin-related o2-binding protein of vertebrates with uncertain function. it occurs as single-copy gene in mammals. here, we demonstrate the presence of two paralogous cytoglobin genes (cygb-1 and cygb-2) in the teleost fishes danio rerio, oryzias latipes, tetraodon nigroviridis, and takifugu rubripes. the globin-typical introns at positions b12.2 and g7.0 are conserved in both genes, whereas the c-terminal exon found in mammalian cytoglobin is absent in th ... | 2005 | 16199220 |
| evolution of hox clusters in salmonidae: a comparative analysis between atlantic salmon (salmo salar) and rainbow trout (oncorhynchus mykiss). | we studied the genomic organization of hox genes in atlantic salmon (salmo salar) and made comparisons to that in rainbow trout (oncorhynchus mykiss), another member of the family salmonidae. we used these two species to test the hypothesis that the hox genes would provide evidence for a fourth round of duplication (4r) of this gene family given the recent polyploid ancestry of the salmonid fish. thirteen putative hox clusters were identified and 10 of these complexes were localized to the curre ... | 2005 | 16205980 |
| developmental genetic basis for the evolution of pelvic fin loss in the pufferfish takifugu rubripes. | paired appendages were a key developmental innovation among vertebrates and they eventually evolved into limbs. ancient developmental control systems for paired fins and limbs are broadly conserved among gnathostome vertebrates. some lineages including whales, some salamanders, snakes, and many ray-fin fish, independently lost the pectoral, pelvic, or both appendages over evolutionary time. when different taxa independently evolve similar developmental morphologies, do they use the same molecula ... | 2005 | 15893975 |
| structural comparison of promoter and coding sequence of type i collagen alpha 1 chain gene duplicates between zebrafish and flounder/fugu lineages. | alpha 1 chain (colalpha1(i)) and alpha 2 chain (colalpha2(i)) are universal components of type i collagen in tetrapods, but rainbow trout (oncorhynchus mykiss) and zebrafish (danio rerio) have a third: alpha 3 chain (colalpha3(i)). this study tests whether colalpha3(i) is a duplicate of colalpha1(i) by whole-genome duplication (wgd) that occurred early in the ray-fin fish lineage. we also examine how their promoter sequence was modified after wgd. we cloned colalpha1(i), colalpha2(i) and colalph ... | 2006 | 20483231 |
| multiple occurrences of spiggin genes in sticklebacks. | the threespine stickleback (gasterosteus aculeatus) is known to have a unique reproductive mode including male nest-building with a secreted glue-like protein named spiggin. spiggin is a key character for studying the molecular mechanism in the evolution of this intriguing nest-building behavior, since the glue-like protein is essential for nest-building. however, it is unclear whether spiggin is encoded by a single gene or multiple genes; there are conflicting reports on this point. to resolve ... | 2006 | 16500044 |
| fugu genome does not contain mitochondrial pseudogenes. | contrary to previous observations that fish genomes are devoid of nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes, a genome-wide survey identified a large number of "recent" and "ancient" nuclear mitochondrial dna fragments (numts) in the whole-genome sequences of the fugu (takifugu rubripes), tetraodon nigroviridis, and zebrafish (danio rerio). we have analyzed the latest assembly (v4.0) of the fugu genome and show that, like the anopheles genome, the fugu nuclear genome does not contain mitochondrial pseudo ... | 2006 | 16386876 |
| myogenin in model pufferfish species: comparative genomic analysis and thermal plasticity of expression during early development. | myogenin (myog) is a muscle-specific basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that plays an essential role in the specification and differentiation of myoblasts. the myogenin genes from the tiger pufferfish, takifugu rubripes, and green-spotted pufferfish, tetraodon nigroviridis, were cloned and a comparative genomic analysis performed. the gene encoding myogenin is composed of three exons and has a relatively similar genomic structure in t. rubripes, t. nigroviridis and human. introns 1 and ... | 2006 | 20483233 |
| characterization of muscle-regulatory gene, myod, from flounder (paralichthys olivaceus) and analysis of its expression patterns during embryogenesis. | specification and differentiation of skeletal muscle cells are driven by the activity of genes encoding members of the myogenic regulatory factors (mrfs). in vertebrates, the mrf family includes myod, myf5, myogenin, and mrf4. the mrfs are capable of converting a variety of nonmuscle cells into myoblasts and myotubes. to better understand their roles in fish muscle development, we isolated the myod gene from flounder (paralichthys olivaceus) and analyzed its structure and patterns of expression. ... | 2006 | 16362809 |
| characterisation of conserved non-coding sequences in vertebrate genomes using bioinformatics, statistics and functional studies. | we recently identified approximately 1400 conserved non-coding elements (cnes) shared by the genomes of fugu (takifugu rubripes) and human that appear to be associated with developmental regulation in vertebrates [woolfe, a., goodson, m., goode, d.k., snell, p., mcewen, g.k., vavouri, t., smith, s.f., north, p., callaway, h., kelly, k., walter, k., abnizova, i., gilks, w., edwards, y.j.k., cooke, j.e., elgar, g., 2005. highly conserved non-coding sequences are associated with vertebrate developm ... | 2006 | 20483234 |
| toxicity of pufferfish takifugu rubripes cultured in netcages at sea or aquaria on land. | marine pufferfish (family tetraodontidae) are believed to accumulate tetrodotoxin (ttx) mainly in liver and ovary through the food chain by ingesting ttx-bearing organisms such as starfish, gastropods, crustacean, flatworms, ribbonworms, etc. consequently, it is hypothesized that non-toxic pufferfish can be produced if they are cultured with ttx-free diets in netcages at sea or aquaria on land, where the invasion of ttx-bearing organisms is completely shut off. to confirm this hypothesis, more t ... | 2006 | 20483246 |
| identification, cloning and characterization of a plasma membrane zinc efflux transporter, trznt-1, from fugu pufferfish (takifugu rubripes). | an orthologue of the mammalian znt-1 (zinc transporter-1) gene was cloned from the intestine of the torafugu pufferfish (takifugu rubripes), demonstrating that this gene predates the evolution of land-living vertebrates. trznt-1 (t. rubripes znt-1) shares overall topology with other members of the znt-1 family of zinc transporters, with six tms (transmembrane domains) including a large histidine-rich intracellular loop between tm iv and v and intracellular c- and n-termini. expression of trznt-1 ... | 2006 | 16212555 |
| phylogeny and evolution of class-i helical cytokines. | the class-i helical cytokines constitute a large group of signalling molecules that play key roles in a plethora of physiological processes including host defence, immune regulation, somatic growth, reproduction, food intake and energy metabolism, regulation of neural growth and many more. despite little primary amino acid sequence similarity, the view that all contemporary class-i helical cytokines have expanded from a single ancestor is widely accepted, as all class-i helical cytokines share a ... | 2006 | 16614377 |
| a multispecies comparison of the metazoan 3'-processing downstream elements and the cstf-64 rna recognition motif. | the cleavage stimulation factor (cstf) is a required protein complex for eukaryotic mrna 3'-processing. cstf interacts with 3'-processing downstream elements (dses) through its 64-kda subunit, cstf-64; however, the exact nature of this interaction has remained unclear. we used est-to-genome alignments to identify and extract large sets of putative 3'-processing sites for mrna from ten metazoan species, including homo sapiens, canis familiaris, rattus norvegicus, mus musculus, gallus gallus, dani ... | 2006 | 16542450 |
| evolution of cis elements in the differential expression of two hoxa2 coparalogous genes in pufferfish (takifugu rubripes). | sequence divergence in cis-regulatory elements is an important mechanism contributing to functional diversity of genes during evolution. gene duplication and divergence provide an opportunity for selectively preserving initial functions and evolving new activities. many vertebrates have 39 hox genes organized into four clusters (hoxa-hoxd); however, some ray-finned fishes have extra hox clusters. there is a single hoxa2 gene in most vertebrates, whereas fugu (takifugu rubripes) and medaka (oryzi ... | 2006 | 16569696 |
| the flounder organic anion transporter foat has sequence, function, and substrate specificity similarity to both mammalian oat1 and oat3. | the flounder renal organic anion transporter (foat) has substantial sequence homology to mammalian basolateral organic anion transporter orthologs (oat1/oat1 and oat3/oat3), suggesting that foat may have functional properties of both mammalian forms. we therefore compared uptake of various substrates by rat oat1 and oat3 and human oat1 and oat3 with the foat clone expressed in xenopus oocytes. these data confirm that estrone sulfate is an excellent substrate for mammalian oat3/oat3 transporters ... | 2006 | 16857889 |
| temperature effects on the development of enteromyxum spp. (myxozoa) in experimentally infected tiger puffer, takifugu rubripes (temminck & schlegel). | the effects of water temperature on the development of the enteric myxosporeans, enteromyxum fugu and enteromyxum leei, were investigated in experimentally infected tiger puffer, takifugu rubripes. after naïve tiger puffer were fed gut tissue infected with both e. fugu and e. leei, they were divided into separate tanks and kept at different constant temperature regimes between 10 and 25 degrees c. regardless of the water temperature tested, e. fugu was consistently detected with a high prevalenc ... | 2006 | 16948706 |
| human homologs of the putative g protein-coupled membrane progestin receptors (mpralpha, beta, and gamma) localize to the endoplasmic reticulum and are not activated by progesterone. | the steroid hormone progesterone exerts pleiotrophic functions in many cell types. although progesterone controls transcriptional activation through binding to its nuclear receptors, it also initiates rapid nongenomic signaling events. recently, three putative membrane progestin receptors (mpralpha, beta, and gamma) with structural similarity to g protein-coupled receptors have been identified. these mpr isoforms are expressed in a tissue-specific manner and belong to the larger, highly conserve ... | 2006 | 16959873 |
| characterization and tissue distribution of multiple agouti-family genes in pufferfish, takifugu rubripes. | four types of agouti-family genes (agrp1, agrp2, asip1 and asip2) were obtained from torafugu, takifugu rubripes. their characterization and structure were analyzed to elucidate the relationship among the torafugu agouti-family genes. both agrp1 and agrp2 showed genomic synteny with the human agrp gene. phylogenetic tree analysis showed that agrp1 formed a cluster with human agrp. we inferred that torafugu agrp1 and agrp2 are orthologs of human agrp and that they are paralogous genes derived fro ... | 2006 | 17097766 |
| interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein gene structure in tetrapods and teleost fish. | the interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (irbp) gene possesses an unusual structure, encoding multiple repeats, each consisting of about 300 amino acids. our goals were to gain insight into the function of irbp, and to test the current model for the evolution of irbp, in which repeats were replicated from a simpler ancestral gene. | 2006 | 17200656 |
| novel mannose-specific lectins found in torafugu, takifugu rubripes: a review. | in earlier work, we identified a novel mannose-specific lectin, termed pufflectin-s, from the skin mucus of torafugu, takifugu rubripes. we here make a brief review on the lectin. the amino acid sequence of pufflectin-s shares sequence homology with mannose-binding lectins of monocotyledonous plants, and has conserved two of three carbohydrate recognition domains, qdnvy motifs, of these plant lectins. by site-directed mutagenesis, we verified that the qdnvy motif in the n-terminal region was cri ... | 2006 | 20483241 |
| molecular cloning and expression of retinoic-acid synthesizing enzyme raldh2 from takifugu rubripes. | retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (raldhs) synthesize retinoic acid (ra), which is required for pattern formation and organogenesis during embryogenesis. to elucidate the common role of ra on vertebrate embryos, we first sought to clone a homologous gene to human raldh2 from fugu, takifugu rubripes. we cloned a 1837 bp cdna that encodes fugu raldh. the deduced amino acid sequence of the fugu raldh comprises 502 amino acids. the fugu raldh showed highest sequence identity to zebrafish, danio rerio, ra ... | 2006 | 20483243 |
| two interleukin (il)-15 homologues in fish from two distinct origins. | here, we report two distinct genes in teleosts that are homologous to interleukin (il)-15. the two genes, isolated from fugu (takifugu rubripes), resemble to mammalian il-15 but differ from il-2 and il-21 in their amino acid sequences, the possessing of an extraordinary long signal peptide and more widespread tissue localization. in addition, multiple out-of-frame aug codons, the negative translational regulators of mammalian il-15 genes were also detected in the 5'-utr of the two genes. fugu il ... | 2006 | 16055191 |
| many genes in fish have species-specific asymmetric rates of molecular evolution. | gene and genome duplication events increase the amount of genetic material that might then contribute to an increase in the genomic and phenotypic complexity of organisms during evolution. thus, it has been argued that there is a relationship between gene copy number and morphological complexity and/or species diversity. this hypothesis implies that duplicated genes have subdivided or evolved novel functions compared to their pre-duplication proto-orthologs. such a functional divergence might be ... | 2006 | 16466575 |
| proceedings of the smbe tri-national young investigators' workshop 2005. lineage-specific expansions and contractions of the bitter taste receptor gene repertoire in vertebrates. | the sense of bitter taste plays a critical role in how organisms avoid generally bitter toxic and harmful substances. previous studies revealed that there were 25 intact bitter taste receptor (t2r) genes in humans and 34 in mice. however, because the recent chicken genome project reported only three t2r genes, it appears that extensive gene expansions occurred in the lineage leading to mammals or extensive gene contractions occurred in the lineage leading to birds. here, i examined the t2r gene ... | 2006 | 16484289 |
| carbohydrate-binding site of a novel mannose-specific lectin from fugu (takifugu rubripes) skin mucus. | pufflectin-s, identified in the skin mucus of the fugu takifugu rubripes, is a novel mannose-specific lectin with similar structure to monocotyledonous plant lectins. in the present study, mutational analysis was used to reveal the mannose-binding sites of pufflectin-s. putative binding sites were mutated as follows: binding site 1; rpl-d32e (asp32-->glu32), rpl-n34s (asn34-->ser34) and rpl-v36a (val36-->ala36) whereas binding site 2; rpl-d61e (asp61-->glu61), rpl-n63s (asn63-->ser63) and rpl-v6 ... | 2006 | 16488640 |
| uneven evolutionary rates of bradykinin b1 and b2 receptors in vertebrate lineages. | bradykinin acts through two receptor subtypes in mammals and generates a variety of responses including pain, inflammation and hypotension. the evolutionary history of the bradykinin system has been unclear due to shortage of information outside mammals. we describe here two receptor subtypes and the bradykinin precursor in three species of bony fish (the zebrafish danio rerio, the japanese pufferfish takifugu rubripes, and the green spotted pufferfish tetraodon nigroviridis) and chicken and ana ... | 2006 | 16530355 |
| identification and characterization of an interleukin-15 homologue from tetraodon nigroviridis. | interleukin-15 (il-15) plays an important role in adaptive immune systems in vertebrates with similar bioactivities to interleukin-2 (il-2). here we report molecular cloning, sequence analysis and distribution of an il-15 homologue from a pufferfish (tetraodon nigroviridis). it is located within a 3,088 bp genomic fragment, transcribed into a 1,056 bp mrna including 158 bp 5'utr (untranslated region), 519 bp orf (open reading frame) and 379 bp 3'utr. t. nigroviridis il-15 is constitutively detec ... | 2006 | 16455279 |
| structural phylogenetic analysis of activation-induced deaminase function. | in mammals, activation-induced deaminase (aid) initiates somatic hypermutation (shm) and class switch recombination (csr) of ig genes. shm and csr activities require separate regions within aid. a chromosome region maintenance 1 (crm1)-dependent nuclear export signal (nes) at the aid c terminus is necessary for csr, and has been suggested to associate with csr-specific cofactors. csr appeared late in aid evolution, during the emergence of land vertebrates from bony fish, which only display shm. ... | 2006 | 16785531 |
| haptoglobin, a hemoglobin-binding plasma protein, is present in bony fish and mammals but not in frog and chicken. | hemoglobin (hb) released from erythrocytes may cause oxidation of lipids and proteins. haptoglobin (hp), which occurs in the plasma of all mammals, binds free hb and inhibits its oxidative activity. it is not known whether this protective protein also exists in lower vertebrates. by analyzing available genomic sequences, we have found that bony fish, but not more primitive animals, have a gene coding for a protein homologous to mammalian hp. furthermore, we show that this protein is present in t ... | 2006 | 16537503 |
| en bloc duplications, mutation rates, and densities of amino acid changes clarify the evolution of vertebrate alpha-1,3/4-fucosyltransferases. | numerous vertebrates have four alpha-1,3/4-fucosyltransferase genes (fut9, fut7, fut4, and fut lewis) belonging to the same family. until now, studies on the evolution of this family have mainly focused on lewis genes but how the other alpha-1,3/4-fucosyltransferases have emerged from a common ancestor is not well known. in order to define the respective roles of duplications and mutations, we have compared amino acid sequences representative of bony fish (takifugu rubripes), amphibians (xenopus ... | 2006 | 16927008 |
| co-evolutionary analysis of insulin/insulin like growth factor 1 signal pathway in vertebrate species. | insulin/insulin like growth factor 1 signaling pathway plays an essential role on the regulation of variant, interrelated and fundamental processes, such as metabolism, growth, reproduction and aging. this pathway is highly conserved during evolution. we analyzed eight vertebrate species' insulin/insulin like growth factor 1 pathway and examined the co-evolutionary relationship between different protein components by quantifying similarity of phylogenetic trees. the collected species include tak ... | 2006 | 16146739 |
| molecular cloning of the bcl-6 gene, a transcriptional repressor for b-cell differentiation, in torafugu (takifugu rubripes). | b-cell lymphoma-6 (bcl-6) is a transcriptional repressor that prevents the terminal differentiation of mature b-cells to plasma cells, and is essential for germinal center formation in the primary lymphoid organs of mammals. in this study, we identified the bcl-6 gene in torafugu (takifugu rubripes) using the torafugu genome database, and analyzed the expression of bcl-6 mrna in various tissues of torafugu, using rt-pcr. the bcl-6 gene consisted of eight exons and seven introns spanning a genome ... | 2006 | 16076494 |
| identification and characterization of the dna-binding properties of a zhangfei homologue in japanese pufferfish, takifugu rubripes. | zhangfei is a basic region-leucine zipper (bzip) transcription factor identified through its interaction with a herpesvirus-related host cell factor hcf1 (c1). unlike most bzip proteins, the mammalian zhangfei protein does not bind dna as homodimers. it is believed due to the absence of an asparagine residue in the basic region, which forms the dna-recognition motif, nxxaaxxcr, in all bzip proteins. here, we report the identification and characterization of a novel zhangfei homologue in takifugu ... | 2006 | 16352292 |
| evolutionary origins of the endocannabinoid system. | endocannabinoid system evolution was estimated by searching for functional orthologs in the genomes of twelve phylogenetically diverse organisms: homo sapiens, mus musculus, takifugu rubripes, ciona intestinalis, caenorhabditis elegans, drosophila melanogaster, saccharomyces cerevisiae, arabidopsis thaliana, plasmodium falciparum, tetrahymena thermophila, archaeoglobus fulgidus, and mycobacterium tuberculosis. sequences similar to human endocannabinoid exon sequences were derived from filtered b ... | 2006 | 16434153 |
| the granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (csf3s) of fish and chicken. | granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (csf3) is a glycoprotein cytokine, which influences the hematopoiesis of the phagocytic neutrophils and its precursors and was used extensively in cancer therapy and for the treatment of neutropenia in mammals. however, csf3 is yet to be identified in nonmammalian species mainly because of its rapid mutation. here, we report the first csf3 genes from three teleost fishes: japanese flounder (paralichthys olivaceus), fugu (takifugu rubripes), and green-spotted ... | 2006 | 16738939 |
| molecular cloning and characterisation of sea bass (dicentrarchus labrax l.) caspase-3 gene. | caspase-3 is one of the major caspases operating in apoptosis, cleaving and inactivating a number of molecules and largely contributing to the apoptotic phenotype and the dismantling of the apoptoting cell. the opening reading frame of sea bass (dicentrarchus labrax l.) caspase-3 has 281 amino acids. the complete sequence of caspase-3 shows a very close homology to the correspondent sequence from other vertebrates, in particularly with that of takifugu rubripes and oryzias latipes, with 87.7 and ... | 2007 | 16780952 |
| involvement of host recognition by oncomiracidia and post-larval survivability in the host specificity of heterobothrium okamotoi (monogenea: diclidophoridae). | heterobothrium okamotoi, a monogenean gill parasite, shows high host specificity for tiger puffer, takifugu rubripes. in the present study, in vivo and in vitro experimental infections were conducted using various fish species, including t. rubripes, to understand the mechanisms of specificity. in in vivo experiments, t. rubripes, grass puffer, takifugu niphobles, olive flounder, paralichthys olivaceus, and red sea bream, pagrus major, were exposed to oncomiracidia of h. okamotoi labelled with a ... | 2007 | 17055510 |
| ammonia secretion from fish gill depends on a set of rh glycoproteins. | ammonia excretion from the gill in teleost fish is essential for nitrogen elimination. although numerous physiological studies have measured ammonia excretion, the mechanism of ammonia movement through the membranes of gill epithelial cells is still unknown. mammalian rh glycoproteins are members of a family of proteins that mediate ammonia transport in bacteria, yeast, and plants. we identified the rh glycoprotein homologs, frhag, frhbg, frhcg1, and frhcg2, of the pufferfish, takifugu rubripes. ... | 2007 | 17218543 |
| immobilization antibodies of tiger puffer takifugu rubripes induced by i.p. injection against monogenean heterobothrium okamotoi oncomiracidia do not prevent the infection. | we examined whether infection by the monogenean heterobothrium okamotoi induces production of specific antibodies against oncomiracidia and their cilia, larvae on the gills, and adults on the branchial cavity wall of tiger puffer takifugu rubripes. we also investigated whether specific antibody production participates in acquired protection against h. okamotoi. sera from persistently infected fish immobilized h. okamotoi oncomiracidia 89 days after exposure and antibody levels (measured by enzym ... | 2007 | 17234044 |
| characterization of two duplicate zebrafish cb2-like cannabinoid receptors. | several cannabinoid receptors have been detected in many organisms. the best known are cb1, mainly expressed in the central nervous system and cb2 which is almost exclusively expressed in the periphery. here we report the molecular characterization of two duplicate cb2-like cannabinoid receptors from zebrafish (danio rerio) (zebrafish cb2a and zebrafish cb2b). the amino acid sequences of these receptors present 56% identity with takifugu rubripes cb2 sequence and 39% with human cb2 sequence and ... | 2007 | 17126498 |
| genomics, evolution, and expression of tbpl2, a member of the tbp family. | tbpl2 is the most recently discovered and less characterized member of the tata box binding protein (tbp) family that also comprises tbp, tata box binding protein-like 1 (tbpl1), and drosophila melanogaster tbp related factor (trf). in this paper we report our in silico and in vitro data on (i) the genomics of the tbpl2 gene in homo sapiens, pan troglodytes, mus musculus, rattus norvegicus, gallus gallus, xenopus tropicalis, and takifugu rubripes; (ii) its evolution and phylogenetic relationship ... | 2007 | 17570761 |