COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF PENTRAXIN-LIKE PROTEINS IN DIFFERENT FISH SPECIES

Pentraxins are a family of pentameric serum proteins that have been co nserved in evolution and share sequence homology, similar subunit asse mbly and the capacity for calcium-dependent ligand binding. The classi cal pentraxins are human C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid P component (SAP), The sequence homology and gene organization indicate that they arose from a gene duplication of an ancestral pentraxin gene , They are usually isolated based on their affinity for phosphorylchol ine and agarose, respectively. We have used this method for isolation of pentraxin-like proteins from normal serum of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), common wolffish (Anarhichas lupus), cod (Gadus morhua) and ha libut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), Although pentraxin structures have not been verified, the isolated proteins all appear to be pentraxin-li ke based on their binding specificity, molecular weight of subunits, c ross-reactivity with antibodies to human pentraxins and N-terminal ami no acid sequences, However, with the described method only one pentrax in-like protein was detected in each of the fish species. (C) 1998 Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.