Evolutionary conservation of CCND1-ORAOV1-FGF19-FGF4 locus from zebrafish to human

The CCND1-ORAOV1-FGF19-FGF4-FGF3-FLJ10261-FADD-PPFIA1-EMS1 locus on human chromosome 11q13 is frequently amplified in esophageal cancer, breast cancer, and bladder tumors. FGF19, FGF4 and FGF3 genes are implicated in embryogenesis and carcinogenesis. We proposed in 2002 the hypothesis that mouse Fgf15 might be the ortholog of human FGF19 based on comparative genomics. Here, we identified zebrafish fgf19 and oraov1 genes by using bioinformatics to demonstrate the hypothesis. Zebrafish fgf19 gene, consisting of three exons, was located around nucleotide position 121802-124963 of zebrafish genome draft sequence AL929586.12 in the reverse orientation. Zebrafish fgf19 (209 aa) was more homologous to chicken fgf19 and human FGF19 than to rodent Fgf15. Zebrafish oraov1 gene, consisting of five exons, was located around nucleotide position 112172-115838 of AL929586.12 in the reverse orientation. Zebrafish oraov1 protein (141 aa) was more homologous to human ORAOV1 than to rodent Oraov1. The CCND1-ORAOV1-FGF19-FGF4 locus was well conserved between human and zebrafish genomes in the order of genes, in the direction of genes, and in the exon-intron structure. Rat Ccnd1-Oraov1-Fgf15-Fgf4 locus was synthenic to mouse Ccnd1-Oraov1 (also known as 2210010N10Rik)-Fgf15-Fgf4 locus. Fgf15, homologous to human FGF19 and zebrafish fgf19, was located on the synthenic locus of human FGF19 and zebrafish fgf19 within rodent genomes. Based on the evolutionary conservation of the CCND1-ORAOV1-FGF19-FGF4 locus from zebrafish to human, it was concluded that Fgf15 gene is the rodent ortholog of human FGF19 gene.