Cloning and characterization of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit NR1 gene from chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta (Walbaum, 1792)

Jeong-Nam Yu,Seung Il Lee,Seung Hyub Ham,Hyung-Joo Jin,Hiroshi Ueda,Deuk-Hee Jin

doi:10.1186/2193-1801-3-9

Abstract

Here, we report the information about molecular and expression characterization of NR1 gene in chum salmon for the first time. The complete NR1 subunit showed a large open-reading frame of 2844 bp in the total length of 3193 bp, and this cDNA contained a coding region encoding 948 amino acids and a stop codon. The organization of the NR1 subunit of chum salmon were similar of most other fishes, except C’ terminal. The expression of NR1 subunit was to show higher in the natal river near to the hatchery than near to the coast. We expect that the information reported herein may facilitate further investigations on the relationship between memory factors of natal rivers and homing mechanisms in Salmonidae.

Highlights

Salmon are an important biological and economic resource in countries of the North Pacific Rim and Asia (Groot and Margolis 1991)
It is widely accepted that specific factors of the natal stream are imprinted into the nervous systems of juvenile salmon during downstream migration and that adult salmon evoke these factors to recognize the natal stream during spawning and upstream migrations (Ueda 2011)
A PCR cloning approach was used to identify a potential chum salmon NR1 subunit expressed in homing chum salmon

Summary

Introduction

Salmon are an important biological and economic resource in countries of the North Pacific Rim and Asia (Groot and Margolis 1991). We analyzed the complete sequence and structure of the NR1 subunit in the chum salmon and evaluated its relationship to that of other fish species.

Results

Conclusion