Cloning and characterization of fatty acid transport proteins in Japanese seabass Lateolabrax japonicus, and their gene expressions in response to dietary arachidonic acid

In this study, putative cDNA of three fatty acid transport protein (FATP) isoforms, that is FATP1, FATP4 and FATP6, was cloned and characterized from the liver of Japanese seabass (Lateolabrax japonicus), and their expression in response to diets with different arachidonic acid (ARA) levels (0.05%, 0.22%, 0.37%, 0.60%, 1.38% and 2.32% of dry matter) was investigated through a feeding trial. Two subtypes of FATP1, that is FATP1a and FATP1b, were cloned for the first time. The Japanese seabass FATPs showed high identity to their orthologs in other fish species and mammals, but Japanese seabass FATP6 showed low identity to Japanese seabass FATP1 and FATP4. FATP1a gene was highly expressed in brain, liver and eye, whereas FATP1b had the highest gene expression in gill, followed by kidney, skin, eye, muscle and heart. FATP4 gene was primarily expressed in intestine, brain and eye. However, FATP6 had very low gene expression levels in almost all tissues. High levels of dietary ARA (0.60%~2.32%) enhanced the gene expressions of FATP1a and FATP4 in the intestine and the gene expression of FATP1a in the muscle, whereas the dietary ARA supplementation reduced the FATP1b mRNA expression in the liver. The gene expression of FATP1a, FATP4 and FATP6 in the liver, as well as the FATP4 gene expression in the muscle, was not significantly affected by dietary ARA levels. To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the regulation of FATP gene expressions by dietary ARA.