Expression of a Duplicate Na+,K+-ATPase β1 Isoform in the European Eel (Anguilla anguilla)

Recent studies on teleost fish have suggested that their genomes have undergone ancient polyploidization events resulting in the duplication of the genome. A duplicate copy of the Na,K-ATPase β1-isoform (called β233) has been identified in the European eel ( Anguilla anguilla ). The β233-isoform shares high levels of nucleotide (74.8%) and amino acid (69.9%) homology with the eel β1-subunit as well as other vertebrate β1-sequences. Compared with the widely expressed β1-isoform, expression of β233-mRNA is mainly restricted to epithelial tissues. Seawater acclimation induced increases in β233-mRNA levels in kidney, gill, and intestine of migratory “silver” but not the nonmigratory “yellow” adult eels, suggesting that the factors responsible for this upregulation are themselves developmentally regulated. Expression of a variably glycosylated 40- to 52-kDa β233-protein in both gill “chloride” and intestinal epithelial cells suggests that the β233-isoform of Na,K-ATPase may play an important functional role in the major osmoregulatory tissues of euryhaline fish such as the eel.