Authors : Jianjun Zuo, Weguang Xia, Mei Xu, Fawen Dai, Chao Huang, Hui Ye, Qingyun Cao and Dingyuan Feng
Abstract: The Cationic Amino acid Transporter CAT3 (HGMW-approved gene symbol SLC7A3; solute carrier family 7, member 3) plays a crucial role in amino acid nutrition. In this study, researchers cloned and sequenced porcine CAT3 and examined its expression in the porcine small intestine. A 2276 bp porcine CAT3 cDNA fragment was obtained that includes a 127 bp 5'UTR, 1860 bp Open Reading Frame (ORF) and 289 bp 3'UTR. The predicted porcine CAT3 has 619 amino acids with a molecular weight of 66.88 kDa and is 92.4, 94.5, 89.7 and 89.8% identical in amino acid sequence to human, cattle, mouse and rat CAT3, respectively. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that porcine CAT3 transcripts are expressed across a panel of tissues of Landrace pigs at the age of day 7 with the highest expression in the brain and heart and moderate expression in the liver, kidney, muscle, intestinal tract and lung. The CAT3 mRNA abundance was significantly higher at day 1 than at other ages in the duodenum and colon (p<0.05) however, it was highest at day 30 in the jejunum (p<0.05) and ileum. There was no significant difference in the CAT3 mRNA abundance in either the duodenum or the jejunum between Landrace and Lantang pigs (p>0.05). The CAT3 mRNA abundance in the ileum of Lantang pigs was significantly higher than that in the ileum of Landrace pigs at day 30 (p<0.05) however, the colon of Landrace pigs demonstrated significantly higher CAT3 mRNA than that of Lantang pigs at day 1 (p<0.05).
Jianjun Zuo, Weguang Xia, Mei Xu, Fawen Dai, Chao Huang, Hui Ye, Qingyun Cao and Dingyuan Feng, 2013. Molecular Cloning, Tissue Distribution and Expression of the Porcine Cationic Amino Acid Transporter CAT3. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 12: 1070-1077.