Genomic Structure and Expression of the Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase α2 Subunit Gene in the Medaka Fish Oryzias latipes

• Published in: Zoological Science Vol. 20; no. 10; pp. 1293 - 1304
• Main Authors: Yao, Yuko, Yamamoto, Takehiro, Tsutsumi, Makiko, Matsuda, Masaru, Hori, Hiroshi, Naruse, Kiyoshi, Mitani, Hiroshi, Shima, Akihiro, Asakawa, Shuichi, Shimizu, Nobuyoshi, Suzuki, Norio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Zoological Society of Japan 01.10.2003; UniBio Press
• Subjects: cGMP; exon/intron organization; gene expression; medaka fish; Original s; soluble guanylyl cyclase
• ISSN: 0289-0003
• DOI: 10.2108/zsj.20.1293

A cDNA clone encoding the soluble guanylyl cyclase α2 subunit was isolated from medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) and designated as OlGCS-α2. The OlGCS-α2 cDNA was 3192 bp in length and the open reading frame (ORF) encodes a protein of 805 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence has high similarity to that of the mammalian α2 subunit gene except for the N-terminal regulatory domain. The C-terminal 5 amino acids, “RETSL”, which have been reported to interact with the post synaptic density protein (PSD)-95 were conserved. An RNase protection assay with adult fish organs showed that OlGCS-α2 was expressed mainly in the brain and testis. The complete nucleotide sequence (about 41 kbp) of the OlGCS-α2 genomic DNA clone isolated from a medaka fish BAC library indicated that the OlGCS-α2 gene consisted of 9 exons and 8 introns. The 5′-flanking region and larger introns, such as introns 1, 4, and 7, contained the several fragments conserved in the nucleotide sequences of Rex6 (non-long terminal repeat retrotransposon), MHC class I genomic region, and OlGC1, the medaka fish homolog of the mammalian guanylyl cyclase B gene. Linkage analysis on the medaka fish chromosome demonstrated that the OlGCS-α2 gene was mapped to LG13; this mapping position was different from those for the OlGCS-α1 and OlGCS-β1 genes (LG1).