Analysis of vitellogenin gene structure in Caspian roach, Rutilus caspicus (Pisces: Cyprinidae) during exposure to Atrazine

Abstract

Chemical contamination of aquatic environments to EDCs has become a major focus of environmental toxicology research. The exposure of fishes to estrogenic EDCs in aquatic environments is most frequently assessed by analyzing Vitellogenin (Vg) (the egg yolk precursor protein) expression. Therefore, characterization of Vg gene is of high priority for EDCs bio-monitoring. So, we prepared liver tissue samples of Caspian roach, Rutilus caspicus for RNA extraction. Following the cDNA synthesis, specifically - designed primers were employed to amplify the Vg gene and ultimately sequence it. The evolutionary analyses of the sequence were performed using MEGA7 software. The obtained results indicated that the designed primers successfully amplified the partial cDNA sequence. Our results indicated that this sequence most probably belongs to the Vg1 form of the gene. Moreover, it was demonstrated that Caspian roach and Petroleuciscus esfahani share a common ancestor. Noteworthy, the study of Vg gene would be helpful to understand the molecular mechanisms of development and would be used to establish a bio-monitoring tool for detection of exposure to different EDCs.