Cloning of medaka glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its receptor GFR alpha 1

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) signaling through its receptor GFRI?1 plays an important role in many biological processes including cell survival, proliferation and differentiation. The aim of this project was to isolate and characterize both Gdnf and GfrI?1 from the medaka fish (Oryzias latipes). A full length cDNA for the medaka gfrI?1 was obtained by RT-PCR followed by RACE. It is 2551 bp long and has an open reading frame of 1401 bp for 466 amino acids. The predicted protein shares the best homology to the known vertebrate GFRI?1 proteins although several domains distinctive to the gene do not appear to be well conserved. A cDNA of 762 bp for a putative medaka Gdnf of 253 amino acids was similarly obtained and sequence analysis across species indicates that it is generally well conserved in the medaka. Expression analysis suggests the presence of a currently unidentified binding ligand to GfrI?1 in the medaka brain and that Gdnf might also play a slightly different role in the medaka.

Author dc:creator

• LIM CHIAT KOO

• GDNF, GFR alpha 1, Medaka, Spermatogonial Stem Cells