A HIGHLY CONSERVED N-TERMINAL SEQUENCE FOR TELEOST VITELLOGENIN WITH POTENTIAL VALUE TO THE BIOCHEMISTRY, MOLECULAR-BIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF VITELLOGENESIS

N-terminal amino acid sequences for vitellogenin (Vtg) from six specie s of teleost fish (striped bass, mummichog, pinfish, brown bullhead, m edaka, yellow perch and the sturgeon) are compared with published N-te rminal Vtg sequences for the lamprey, clawed frog and domestic chicken . Striped bass and mummichog had 100% identical amino acids between po sitions 7 and 21, while pinfish, brown bullhead, sturgeon, lamprey, Xe nopus and chicken had 57%, 93%, 60%, 47%, 47-60% for four transcripts and had 40% identical, respectively, with striped bass for the same po sitions. Partial sequences obtained for medaka and yellow perch were 1 00% identical between positions 5 to 10. The potential utility of this conserved sequence for studies on the biochemistry, molecular biology and pathology of vitellogenesis is discussed.