Abstract
Melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) regulating color change of fish skin was identified from brain cDNA library of Olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) during the analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs). Olive flounder MCH gene consisted of 598 nucleotides encoding 150 amino acids. Olive flounder MCH protein revealed to contain signal peptide of 19 amino acid residues, pro-MCH of 131 amino acids being processed to biologically active and mature form of hormone with 25 amino acid residues at the carboxyl terminus. A comparative structural analysis revealed that Olive flounder MCH precursor had low sequence identity with other fish species and mammalian counterparts, while the amino acid sequences of mature hormone had a relatively high identity and more conserved. RT-PCR analysis revealed that olive flounder MCH precersor gene was expressed spectically only in the brain and not in other tissues.
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