Genetics and Molecular Biology (Jan 2007)

Partial molecular characterization of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) alpha-cardiac muscle actin gene and its relationship to actin isoforms of other fish species

  • Adriane P. Wasko,
  • Fábio E. Severino,
  • Flávia T. Presti,
  • Andréia B. Poletto,
  • Cesar Martins

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1415-47572007000600010
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 30, no. 4
pp. 1089 – 1092

Abstract

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An alpha actin gene segment, isolated from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), was characterized by nucleotide sequencing, predicted amino acid sequence and Southern blot hybridization. Genomic DNA amplification resulted in a 1063-bp fragment corresponding to a partial alpha-cardiac muscle actin gene containing exons 3 to 6. Southern blot analysis of the restriction-digested DNA revealed that the Nile tilapia genome contains multiple muscle actin isoforms. Although comparison of the nucleotide sequence, amino acid residues and exon-intron organization of the isolated actin gene with those of other vertebrates showed a high level of identity, diagnostic amino acid residues can still be correlated to distinct actin genes in fish species.

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