Piwi基因是影响鱼类生殖细胞发育的重要因子。通过设计特异引物, 以奥利亚罗非鱼的精巢RNA为模板, 通过PCR扩增和克隆测序, 获得了两种基因序列, 分别长2 571 bp和3 204 bp。通过生物信息学分析, 表明这两个片段与尼罗罗非鱼的Piwil-1和Piwil-2相似性都达到99%。通过翻译, Piwil-1和Piwil-2的蛋白序列具有典型的PAZ和Piwi结构域。因此, 这两个基因为奥利亚罗非鱼的Piwil-1和Piwil-2基因。另外, 生物信息学分析也表明Piwil-1和Piwil-2在一级结构和二级结构上十分相似, 说明在奥利亚罗非鱼基因组中这两个基因分化时间则较短。本研究为后续研究鱼类生殖机理和罗非鱼进化研究奠定了基础。

Piwi genes are crucial factors which affect the development of germ cell in fish. By designing specific primers and using testis in blue tilapia, two sequences were obtained which were 2 571 bp and 3 204 bp long, respectively. After bioinformatics analysis, the two sequences showed high similarity (both 99%) with Piwil-1 and Piwil-2 of Nile tilapia. Through transcription, Piwil-1 and Piwil-2 shared classical PAZ and Piwi domain. Thus, the cloned sequences are Piwil-1 and Piwil-2 genes of blue tilapia. In addition, bioinformatics analysis also indicated that Piwil-1 and Piwil-2 were similar in both primary structure and the secondary structure which suggested that the divergence time of these two genes were short in genome of blue tilapia. The present study provides a foundation for the a further researches on fish reproductive mechanisms and evolution on tilapia.