Characterization and ontogenetic expression analysis of the myosin light chains from the fast white muscle of mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi

Three full-length complementary DNA (cDNA) clones were isolated encoding the skeletal myosin light chain 1 (MLC1; 1237 bp), myosin light chain 2 (MLC2; 1206 bp) and myosin light chain 3 (MLC3; 1079 bp) from the fast white muscle cDNA library of mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi. The sequence analysis indicated that MLC1 and MLC3 were not produced from differentially spliced messenger RNAs (mRNA) as reported in birds and rodents but were encoded by different genes. The MLC2 encodes 170 amino acids, which include four EF-hand (helix-loop-helix) structures. The primary structures of the Ca(2+)-binding domain were well conserved among the MLC2s of seven other fish species. The ontogenetic expression analysis by real-time PCR showed that the three light-chain mRNAs were first detected in the gastrula stage, and their expression increased from the tail bud stage to the larval stage. All three MLC mRNAs showed longitudinal expression variation in the fast white muscle of S. chuatsi, especially MLC1 which was highly expressed at the posterior area. Taken together, the study provides a better understanding about the MLC gene structure and their expression pattern in muscle development of S. chuatsi.