[Analysis of expression pattern of zebrafish leg1 homologus gene mu-leg1 in mouse]

Gene leg1 (liver-enriched gene 1) was first identified as a novel gene whose expression was enriched in the liver of zebrafish. Further studies revealed that Leg1 protein was a novel secretory protein, which played a role in the liver development in zebrafish. Here we reported the analysis of expression pattern of zb-leg1 homologus gene mu-leg1. The cDNA of mu-leg1 was isolated from adult mouse liver by nested PCR. This gene encodes a putative protein, mu-Leg1, which shares 31% similarity with zb-Leg1 of zebrafish. Both Northern blotting and semi-quantitative RT-PCR demonstrated that the expression of mu-leg1 was enriched in the small intestine rather than in the liver in adult mouse. We also produced a recombined mu-Leg1 protein and a mu-Leg1 specific antibody. Western blottingdemonstrated that mu-Leg1 was a secretory protein. In addition, we have established a mu-leg1 conditional knock-out heterozygous mouse. Our work builds a basis for further studies of mu-leg1.