Identification and expression analysis of two growth hormone receptors in zanzibar tilapia (Oreochromis hornorum)

Growth hormone plays important roles in various physiological processes such as growth, metabolism, and reproduction. In this study, two cDNAs encoding growth hormone receptor (GHR) were isolated from the liver of zanzibar tilapia (Oreochromis hornornum). The two cDNAs were 2,831 and 2,044 bp in length and named GHR1 and GHR2, respectively. GHR1 and GHR2 shared 57.4% similarity in nucleotide sequences and 33.5% similarity in deduced amino acid sequences. Consequently, it was presumed that they were two different genes. Conserved regions of GHR1 and GHR2 in zanzibar tilapia were different from those of other vertebrates. For example, conserved box2 regions of GHR1 and GHR2 in zanzibar tilapia were, respectively, WVELM and WVEFT, while it was WVEFI for GHRs in other vertebrates. Similar to other fish species, GHR1 and GHR2 were expressed in brain, gill, liver, muscle, spleen, gonad, stomach, kidney, and pituitary in zanzibar tilapia. The expression levels were the highest in liver. Unlike fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) and mossambique tilapia (O. mossambicus), the expression levels of GHR1 in most female fish tissues were higher than those in male fish. No significant difference in GHR2 expression was found in all the tissues in male and female of zanzibar tilapia. Under fasting condition, the expressions of GHRs and IGF-II were significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05) in liver, while the expression of IGF-I remained stable. This observation would contribute to understanding the evolution of the GHR family in further investigation of growth regulation of zanzibar tilapia.