Molecular cloning and expression analysis of female sterile homeotic gene (fsh) in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense.

The gene female sterile homeotic (fsh) plays crucial roles in molecular function, including protein kinase activity and DNA binding, which are involved in biological processes such as terminal region determination and negative regulation of DNA-dependent transcription. Although fsh has been found in Drosophila melanogaster, little is known regarding its expression in crustaceans. In this study, a fsh gene homologue, designated as Mnfsh, was cloned and characterized from the testis of the oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense, by using EST analysis and the RACE approach for the first time. The full-length cDNA of Mnfsh was 2029 bp, consisting of a 5' UTR of 361 bp, a 3' UTR of 216 bp, and an ORF of 1452 bp encoding 484 amino acids. qRT-PCR analysis showed that the Mnfsh gene was expressed in the testis, ovary, muscle, heart, eyestalk, and abdominal ganglion, with the highest level of expression in the ovary and the lowest in the heart. qRT-PCR analyses showed that the expression levels of Mnfsh mRNA both significantly increased in the zoea stage, the VII larvae, and 1st day post-larvae after metamorphosis. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that Mnfsh is an arthropod fsh homologue and probably also plays important roles in embryogenesis, organogenesis, and morphological differentiation of M. nipponense.