Expression of Immune-Related Genes during Loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) Embryonic and Early Larval Development

Early life stage mortality in fish is one of the problems faced by loach aquaculture. However, our understanding of immune system in early life stage fish is still incomplete, and the information available is restricted to a few fish species. In the present work, we investigated the expression of immune-related transcripts in loach during early development. In fishes, recombination-activating gene 1 (RAG-1) and sacsin (SACS) have been considered as immunological function. In this study, the expression of the both genes was assessed throughout the early developmental stages of loach using real-time PCR method. maRAG-1 mRNA was first detected in 0 dph, observed the increased mostly until 40 dph. Significant expression of maRAG-1 was detected in 0 to 40 dph. These patterns of expression may suggest that the loach start to develop its function after hatching. On the other hand, maSACS was detected in unfertilized oocyte to molura stages and 0 to 40 dph. maSACS mRNA transcripts were detected in unfertilized oocytes, suggesting that they are maternally transferred.