Molecular Cloning and Characteristics Analysis of ghrelin Gene in Asian Swamp Eel(Monopterus albus)

Ghrelin is an important signaling molecule linking reproductive and energy metabolism. In this study, ghrelin gene of Monopterus albus was cloned. Its structure and function were analysized preliminarily. By Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends(RACE) technique, full-length cDNA and DNA sequences of ghrelin gene were obtained. The full-length ghrelin cDNA(GenBank accession no. JX122807) was 552 bp long, containing a 115 bp 5'-untranslated region, a 324 bp open reading frame and a 113 bp 3'-untranslated region. The full-length ghrelin DNA was 1 323 bp, consisting of three introns and four exons. The exon/intron junction sequences conformed to the GT/AG rule. Three introns were 594, 84 and 93 bp in length, respectively; four exons were229, 78, 112 and 133 bp in length, respectively. The results of amino acid sequence analysis showed that the deduced propreghrelin sequence of M. albus contained a signal peptide(SP) consisting of 22 amino acid residues, a mature peptide(MP)consisting of 19 amino acid residues and a C-terminal amino acid residue. Among them, the third amino acid of MP was serine(Ser^3) as the site for N-acylation and N-deacetylation reactions; the C-terminal amino acid residue sequence might contain a peptide hormone obestatin, which is a physiological antagonist of mature Ghrelin peptide. The homology and phylogenic relationships analyses of amino acid sequences suggested that propreghrelin of M. albus had high similarity to those of several Perciformes fishes; the propreghrelins of M. albus, Perciformes and Heterosomata fishes were clustered into a subgroup. The high conservatism of the gene structure and the amino acid sequences indicated that Ghrelin exerts important physiological functions and plays similar physiological mechanisms in vertebrates.

免疫鸡群肾型传染性支气管炎病毒的分离和鉴定

[目的]鉴定免疫鸡群肾型传染性支气管炎病毒（IBV）。[方法]以接种IBV的鸡胚尿囊液为模板，根据GenBank中登录的IBV的N基因序列设计引物，通过RT-PCR扩增出目的片段，经酶切鉴定后对其进行测序鉴定。[结果]PCR扩增片段长度为409bp，将其Ⅳ基因核苷酸序列与不同地区分离株（山东、黑龙江等）以及欧洲呼吸型疫苗株（M41）的IBV核苷酸序列进行比较，结果表明，不同毒株的核苷酸同源性在85．6％～100．0％，此次分离所得IBV的N基因与IBVSD0708株（EU352625）N基因的核苷酸同源性高达99．3％，而与呼吸型疫苗株M41（M28566）的同源性仅为87．3％。测序结果及序列分析可以证实分离到的病毒为IBV，命名为HN／HL株。[结论]该研究为鸡传染性支气管炎病毒的控制奠定了基础。