Molecular identification and expression analysis of a natural killer enhancing factor-A from black rockfish Sebastes schlegelii

Abstract

Natural-killer-cell-enhancing factor (NKEF) belongs to the newly defined peroxiredoxin (Prx) family. It was originally isolated from human erythroid cells. The black rockfish NKEF cDNA was identified through the expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis of PBLs libraries. The full-length NKEF cDNA was 1433 bp long and contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 594 bp that encoded 198 amino-acid residues. The 5’UTR had a length of 39 bp, and the 3’UTR 800 bp. The deduced amino-acid sequence of the black rockfish had a density 93.4, 92.9, 87.8, 85.8, 84.8, 83.8, 80.3, 79.7, 77.2, and 75.2% that of the pufferfish, olive flounder, channel catfish, zebrafish, chicken, common carp, Myotis lucifugus, cattle, human PrxI, rat PrxI, human NKEF-A, and Xenopus tropicalis, respectively. The NKEF gene was expressed in all the tissues of the black rockfish. The RT-PCR indicated that the NKEF transcripts were predominantly in the spleen and gill, less dominantly in the PBLs, head kidney, trunk kidney, and liver, and least in the intestine and muscles. This is the first report on the existence of the NKEF-A gene in black rockfish.