Cloning and Characterization of Transferrin cDNA from Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

Abstract

A cDNA clone for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) transferrin was isolated from a liver cDNA library. The total 2, 511 nucleotides contained a 5' non-coding region, an open reading frame encoded with a transferrin polypeptide consisting of 687 amino acids and 3' non-coding region. The amino acid sequence alignment of the coho salmon transferrin had the duplicated structure, conserved anion-binding, iron-binding, and cysteine residues and two glycosylation sites observed in the previously cloned cDNA transferrin of vertebrates. The coho salmon transferrin is similar in size to the corresponding nucleotides from medaka and Atlantic salmon. The deduced amino acid sequence of the transferrin cDNA of coho salmon had 48%, 46%, 67% and 85% amino acid identities with that of human, Xenopus, medaka and Atlantic salmon, respectively. The coho salmon gene was recognized to be transcribed only in the liver by Northern blot hybridization.