Molecular ontogeny of selected immune‐relevant and metabolism‐related genes in cod, Gadus morhua during early development
2015
Caipang, Christopher Marlowe A | Fagutao, Fernand F
This study characterized the expression of some immune‐ and metabolism‐related genes in Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua during early development. Of the 24 genes that were analyzed, five genes were highly expressed in the unfertilized eggs, namely, mcl1 and NR‐13, which are apoptosis‐related genes; Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (sod), an antioxidant gene; fortilin (tpt), an antiviral gene and glucose transporter‐1 (glut1), a metabolism‐related gene. Other genes that had moderate expression levels in the unfertilized eggs include: metallothionein (mt), catalase (cat), heat shock protein70 (hsp70) and glut3. These indicate that there was maternal transfer of transcripts involved in immune defence, e.g. antibacterial and antiviral defence, oxidative stress and apoptosis as well as those involved in metabolism, e.g. glucose transport. At the early larval stage, the number of highly expressed genes in the fish increased to eight. Three genes are involved in apoptosis (bcl2, mcl1 and NR‐13); an antibacterial gene, mt; an antiviral gene, tpt and three antioxidant genes, glutathione peroxidase (gpx), hsp70 and sod. Cluster analyses revealed that these genes can be grouped into three categories, namely, those genes that are highly expressed throughout the early developmental phase; those that had moderate expression in most of the time points sampled; and those that had mostly weak or undetected expression during the early life stages. The expression of immune‐ and metabolism‐related genes in cod, even in unfertilized eggs indicates that this fish possesses a well‐equipped defence system against pathogens and a well‐defined system required for metabolism prior to becoming a fully functional organism.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by National Agricultural Library