Cloning, Computational Analysis and Expression Profiling of Steroid 5 Alpha-Reductase 1 (SRD5A1) Gene During Reproductive Phases and Ovatide Stimulation in Endangered Catfish, Clarias Magur

November 2023 in “ Scientific reports ”

Deepak Agarwal, Gulshan Kumar, Mohd Ashraf Rather, Irfan Ahmad

steroid 5 alpha-reductase 1 SRD5A1 dihydrotestosterone DHT testosterone neuroendocrine tissues AlphaFold 2 NADPH steroid hormones GnRH analogue Ovatide 5-alpha reductase GnRH

TLDR The research identified and described a gene important for hormone conversion in endangered catfish, which varies in activity during different reproductive stages and after hormone treatment.

The study successfully cloned and characterized the full coding sequence of the SRD5A1 gene from the endangered catfish Clarias magur, which is crucial for converting testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a key hormone in neuroendocrine tissues. The gene's open reading frame (ORF) was 795 base pairs long, encoding a protein of 265 amino acids. The protein was found to be hydrophobic and non-secretory, with seven transmembrane helices. Using AlphaFold 2, the 3D structure was predicted, showing high similarity to bacterial and human SRD5A1 proteins, with a large cavity for binding NADPH and steroid hormones. Key residues for enzyme activity were conserved and identified. Expression levels of SRD5A1 varied with reproductive phases; in females, expression was lower during spawning than preparatory phases, but increased after Ovatide (a GnRH analogue) injection. In males, expression was lowest during the preparatory phase and peaked 16 hours post-Ovatide injection. The study provides the first full-length cDNA characterization of SRD5A1 in this species, with implications for understanding its role in fish reproduction.

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Research cited in this study

3 / 3 results

research Structure of Human Steroid 5α-Reductase 2 with the Anti-Androgen Drug Finasteride

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research Four-Amino Acid Segment in Steroid 5 Alpha-Reductase 1 Confers Sensitivity to Finasteride, a Competitive Inhibitor

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