Partial Sequence and Characterization of a Growth Hormone Gene of the Red Drum (Sciaenops Ocellatus).

• Main Author: Dorworth, Carol Marie
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: LSU Digital Commons 1991
• Subjects: Agriculture; forestry and wildlife; fisheries and aquaculture; Red drum; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/5115; https://doi.org/10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.5115; https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/context/gradschool_disstheses/article/6114/viewcontent/9200058.pdf

A growth hormone (GH) gene was isolated from nuclear DNA of the red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Synthetic oligonucleotides were synthesized based on published cDNA sequences of other perciform fishes. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methodology was employed to amplify a nucleotide sequence extending from the 5$\sp\prime$ end of intron I to 15 bases upstream of the 3$\sp\prime$ end of exon VI of the GH gene. Amplified DNA was cloned into a phagemid sequencing vector. Clones were sequenced. Computer analysis of sequence data was used to determine the internal gene arrangement of exons and introns. Homologies of the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences with published GH sequences were determined. The GH nucleotide sequence was examined for the presence of regulatory elements. The red drum GH gene is comprised of six exons and five introns, an arrangement like that of the salmonid GH genes but unlike the five exon, four intron arrangement of carp (Cyprinus carpio) and mammalian GH genes. Protein coding regions of the red drum GH gene show a high degree of homology with GH cDNA sequences of other perciform fishes. The 3$\sp\prime$ terminus of exon V of the red drum GH gene shows an 86% similarity with a region of exon V of the human chorionic somatomammotropin gene. A putative glucocorticoid receptor element is present in intron I of the red drum GH gene.