THE FATTY ACID-BINDING PROTEIN (fabp) GENES OF SPOTTED GREEN PUFFERFISH (TETRAODON NIGROVIRIDIS) - COMPARATIVE STRUCTURAL GENOMICS AND TISSUE-SPECIFIC DISTRIBUTION OF THEIR TRANSCRIPTS

Abstract

The fatty acid-binding protein (fabp) genes belong to the multigene family of intracellular lipid-binding proteins (iLBP). To date, 12 different FABPs have been identified in various vertebrate genomes. Owing to the fish-specific whole genome duplication (FSGD) event, many fishes have duplicated copies of the fabp genes. Here, I identified and characterized the fabp genes of spotted green pufferfish (Tetraodon nigroviridis). Initially, a BLAST search was performed and ten fabp genes were identified, out of which, three were retained in the pufferfish genome as duplicated copies. The putative pufferfish Fabp proteins shared greatest sequence identity and similarity with their teleost and tetrapod orthologs. Conserved gene synteny was evident between the pufferfish fabp genes and human, zebrafish, three-spined stickleback and medaka FABP/fabp genes, providing evidence that the duplicated copies of pufferfish fabp genes most likely arose as a result of the FSGD. The differential tissue-specific distribution of pufferfish fabp transcripts suggests divergent spatial regulation of duplicated pairs of fabp genes.