Insulin-Like Androgenic Gland Hormone Gene in the Freshwater Chinese Mitten Crab Eriocheir sinensis ：cDNA Cloning, Expression Pattern, and Interaction with EsIGFBP7

摘要

Androgenic gland hormone has an insulin-like structure and it is the male-specific hormone found in crustaceans. Androgenic gland hormone controls male sexual differentiation and maintains male sexual characteristics. In this study, the full-length cDNA sequence of the androgenic gland hormone gene in Eriocheir sinensis (EsIAG) was cloned. The total length of the EsIAG cDNA was 1,495 bp, encoding 151 amino acids. EsIAG has the typical conserved structure of other reported IAGs but had low sequence similarity with other crustacean IAGs. EsIAG was expressed specifically in the androgenic gland. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 from the Chinese mitten crab E. sinensis (EsIGFBP7) was highly expressed in the male sex-related organs among nine crab tissues. Interactions between EsIAG and EsIGFBP7 were verified using a yeast-two hybrid assay. These results obtained in this study provide basic information about the regulatory mechanism of male sex differentiation in E. sinensis.