Screening and Identification of Interacting Proteins of Mitfa in Red Tilapia
Bingjie Jiang,
Lanmei Wang,
Jianjun Fu,
Wenbin Zhu,
Mingkun Luo,
Zaijie Dong
Affiliations
Bingjie Jiang
Wuxi Fisheries College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Wuxi 214128, China
Lanmei Wang
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China
Jianjun Fu
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China
Wenbin Zhu
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China
Mingkun Luo
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China
Zaijie Dong
Wuxi Fisheries College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Wuxi 214128, China
Skin color variation and differentiation are bottlenecks in the aquaculture industry of red tilapia. The mitfa gene primarily regulates melanocyte survival and proliferation in fish skin pigmentation. In this study, a recombinant expression vector for Mitfa expression was successfully constructed. After induction and purification, nearly 600 μg of Mitfa protein was purified from the fermentation supernatant. His pull-down assay, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis, revealed 10 proteins that interact with the Mitfa protein. Five of these proteins were annotated in the melanogenesis and tyrosine metabolism pathways, including Krt, Tpm, Myh, Tyr and Dct. The purified Mitfa recombinant protein was injected into red tilapia, and its activity and function were examined. The expression levels of the mitfa, tyr, tyrp1, and dct genes increased greatly in the dorsal skin after injection (p p mitfa gene.
