Molecular Cloning and Characterization of cDNAs Coding for Apopolysialoglycoproteins in Cherry Salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) Eggs

Abstract

Recently we have cloned the cDNAs and genomic DNAs for apopolysialoglycoproteins (apoPSGPs) of Salmo gairdneri (rainbow trout) [Sorimachi, H., Emori, Y., Kawasaki, H., Kitajima, K., Inoue, S., Suzuki, K., & Inoue, Y. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 17678-17684], and the sequence analyses have indicated that the mRNAs for apoPSGPs vary in length and contain different numbers of identical 39-bp repeating units encoding the tridecapeptide (Asp-Asp-Ala-Thr-Ser-Glu-Ala-Ala-Thr-Gly-Pro-Ser-Gly) as well as highly conserved sequences encoding pre-, pro-, and telo-peptide regions. In this study we isolated cDNA clones for yamame (cherry salmon, river resident form; Oncorhynchus masou ishikawai) apoPSGP using a genomic DNA fragment for rainbow trout apoPSGP as a probe. The nucleotide sequence analyses revealed that the structures of mRNAs for yamame apoPSGP including the noncoding regions are essentially identical to those for rainbow trout, showing 90% sequence identity. Within the repeating region, 4 bp out of the 39 were replaced, producing a different tridecapeptide, Asp-Asp-Ala-Thr-Ser-Glu-Ala-Ala-Thr-Gly-Pro-Ser-Ser. This tridecapeptide is unique to yamame and common among all cDNAs obtained from yamame. Genomic Southern blot analysis showed that the yamame apoPSGP genes constituted a multiple gene family with a similar gene organization to that of rainbow trout. Oligodeoxynucleotide probes (18 bases) synthesized based on specific sequences for the yamame repeating unit hybridized only to the yamame DNA and not to the rainbow trout DNA, and vice versa.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)