Expression and Functional Analysis of Hepcidin from Mandarin Fish ().

Hepcidin is a liver-derived peptide hormone that is related to iron balance and immunity in humans. However, its function in has not been well elucidated. In this study, we analyzed the expression and function of the hepcidin () gene. was specifically expressed in the liver and appeared to be one of the most highly expressed genes in the liver. After spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) infection and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C) stimulation, the expression of in the liver increased by approximately 110, 6500, and 225 times, respectively. After ferrous sulfate (FS) injection, the expression of in the liver increased approximately 520-fold. We found that miR-19c-5p could inhibit expression. Five CpG dinucleotides distributed in the promoter region showed no differential methylation between the liver and the stomach, both presenting high methylation rates. After FS or LPS injection, the expression of three iron balance-related genes (, , and ) and five immune-related cytokine genes (β, , α, , and ) significantly changed. These results indicate that participates in the regulation of iron balance and plays an important role in the immune system. increased approximately 52-fold when mandarin fish were domesticated with artificial diets. might be used as a real-time biomarker of mandarin fish liver because its expression markedly varies under different physiological conditions.