Cloning and expression of an elongation factor-1 alpha in sea bream (Sparus aurata) larvae and adult tissue

A clone encoding the polypeptide elongation factor EF-1 alpha was isolated from a complementary DNA library prepared from sea bream (Spartus aurata) l arvae 1 to 10 days after hatching. The deduced amino acid sequence is betwe en 82% and 95% similar to EF-1 alpha in other animal species, EF-1 alpha me ssenger RNA is present at low abundance in sea bream embryos prior to gastr ulation, but at around 15 hours postfertilization, there is a 10-fold incre ase in transcript levels. This increase presumably reflects midblastula tra nsition in this species. In adult sea bream, EF-1 alpha appeared to have a relatively uniform distribution across all the tissues analyzed.