Cloning, Expression And Function Of Duck A-FABP And H-FABP Gene

Fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs), a group of small molecular weight proteins with high binding affinities for fatty acids, are members of a superfamily of lipid-binding proteins, and occur intracellularly in vertebrates and invertebrates. FABPs are considered to be important carriers for the transportation of intracellular fatty acid. They transport fatty acids from the plasma membrane to sites of fatty acid oxidation, of fatty acid esterification into triacylglycerols or phospholipids, or to the nucleus for possible regulatory functions. Therefore, FABPs play an important role in the modulation of lipids metabolism. This study was designed to clone the duck FABP gene based on the sequences of chicken and mammal FABP gene by comparative genome and bioinformatics approaches; to investigate the expression characterization of FABP genes by RT-PCR; to detect the polymorphisms of FABP genes by DNA sequencing, PCR-SSCP methods, and to investigate the effects of FABP genes polymorphisms on growth and body composition traits in Kunshan sheldrake, Cherry Valley Meat duck and so on. The main results are follows:(1) Some of the cDNA sequence (5', exon I, II and partial III) and genomic sequence (intron I,II and partial intron III ) of duck A-FABP gene were cloned. (GenBank: DQ358123; DQ358124)(2) Some of the cDNA sequence (partial exon I and II) and genomic sequence (partial intron I) of duck H-FABP gene were cloned.(3) RT-PCR analysis indicated that the duck A-FABP gene were expressed in adipose, ovary, skeletal muscle, spleen, small intestine, heart, glandular stomach, muscular stomach and liver.(4) RT-PCR analysis indicated that the duck H-FABP gene were expressed in heart,...