Molecular Cloning and Sequence Analysis of Transferrin cDNA from Japanese Flounder Paralichthys olivaceus

Abstract

A cDNA clone for Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) transferrin (Tf) was isolated from a liver cDNA library. The 2,296-bp Japanese flounder Tf cDNA sequence includes an open reading frame of 2,055 bp and the 5′ and 3′ noncoding regions. The deduced amino acid sequence of Japanese flounder Tf shares 63.3% identity with that of medaka Oryzias latipes and 59.5%, 59.4%, 50.5%, 43.0%, and 45.2% identities with those of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch, Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, Xenopus laevis and humans, respectively. The Japanese flounder Tf sequence has the duplicated structure and the conserved iron binding and cysteine residues that are characteristic of the Tf family. The TF gene was transcribed only in the liver tissue.