Identification of zebrafish magnetoreceptor and cryptochrome homologs  

作　　者：Zuoqiong Zhou Xiyang Peng Jianbin Chen Xiushan Wu Yuequn Wang Yunhan Hong 

机构地区：[1]Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Developmental Biology and Protein Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University [2]Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore

出　　处：《Science China(Life Sciences)》2016年第12期1324-1331,共8页中国科学（生命科学英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31572349, 31272396) to Yuequn Wang;the China Scholarship Council (201406720012) to Xiyang Peng;the Cooperative Innovation Center of Engineering and New Products for Developmental Biology of Hunan Province (2013-448-6);the National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF-CRP7-2010-03) to Yunhan Hong

摘　　要：Magnetoreception is essential for magnetic orientation in animal migration. The molecular basis for magnetoreception has re- cently been elucidated in fruitfly as complexes between the magnetic receptor magnetoreceptor （MagR） and its ligand crypto- chrome （Cry）. MagR and Cry are present in the animal kingdom. However, it is unknown whether they perform a conserved role in diverse animals. Here we report the identification and expression of zebrafish MagR and Cry homologs towards under- standing their roles in lower vertebrates. A single rnagr gene and 7 cry genes are present in the zebrafish genome. Zebrafish has four cryl genes （crylaa, crylab, crylba and cry]bb） homologous to human CRY1 and a single ortholog of human CRY2 as well as 2 cry-like genes （cry4 and cryS）. By RT-PCR, magr exhibited a high level of ubiquitous RNA expression in embryos and adult organs, whereas cry genes displayed differential embryonic and adult expression. Importantly, magr depletion did not produce apparent abnormalities in organogenesis. Taken together, magr and cry2 exist as a single copy gene, whereas cryl exists as multiple gene duplicates in zebrafish. Our result suggests that magr may play a dispensable role in organogenesis and predicts a possibility to generate rnagr mutants for analyzing its role in zebrafish.Magnetoreception is essential for magnetic orientation in animal migration. The molecular basis for magnetoreception has recently been elucidated in fruitfly as complexes between the magnetic receptor magnetoreceptor(Mag R) and its ligand cryptochrome(Cry). Mag R and Cry are present in the animal kingdom. However, it is unknown whether they perform a conserved role in diverse animals. Here we report the identification and expression of zebrafish Mag R and Cry homologs towards understanding their roles in lower vertebrates. A single magr gene and 7 cry genes are present in the zebrafish genome. Zebrafish has four cry1 genes(cry1aa, cry1 ab, cry1 ba and cry1bb) homologous to human CRY1 and a single ortholog of human CRY2 as well as 2 cry-like genes(cry4 and cry5). By RT-PCR, magr exhibited a high level of ubiquitous RNA expression in embryos and adult organs, whereas cry genes displayed differential embryonic and adult expression. Importantly, magr depletion did not produce apparent abnormalities in organogenesis. Taken together, magr and cry2 exist as a single copy gene, whereas cry1 exists as multiple gene duplicates in zebrafish. Our result suggests that magr may play a dispensable role in organogenesis and predicts a possibility to generate magr mutants for analyzing its role in zebrafish.

关 键 词：MAGNETORECEPTION MagR CRYPTOCHROME ORTHOLOG 

分 类 号：Q78[生物学—分子生物学]