A major action of prolactin (PRL) in teleost fish is the maintenance of hyd
romineral balance in euryhaline species in fresh water. The function of PRL
in marine teleosts is less certain and unlike euryhaline teleosts, such as
tilapia and salmon, there is relatively little information about protein o
r gene structure. Associated with studies to determine potential functions
of PRL, pituitary prolactin cDNA has been cloned and sequenced from sea bre
am (Sparus aurata), a marine teleost. The sequence obtained spanned 1349 bp
and contained an open reading frame encoding a protein of 212 amino acids
composed of a putative signal peptide of 24 residues and a mature protein o
f 188 amino acids. N-terminal sequencing of the native protein confirmed un
ambiguously the cleavage site, Ala(24), Val(25), predicted from alignments
of the sea bream PRL cDNA with that of other teleosts. The presence of only
one form of PRL in sea bream was supported by identification using Norther
n blots of only a single transcript of 1.35 kb. Reverse transcription and p
olymerase chain reaction techniques coupled with Southern blot analysis res
ulted in the detection of PRL in the pituitary but also in the intestine, l
iver, ovary, and testes. (C) 1999 Academic Press.