Expression of mep50 in adult and embryos of medaka fish (Oryzias latipes)

Protein arginine methylation is important for gene regulation and biological processes. Methylosome protein 50 (Mep50) is identified as a partner of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (Prmt5), a major enzyme capable of symmetric dimethylation, in mammals and Xenopus. The isolation and characterization of medaka mep50 were reported in this paper. Medaka Mep50 is a homolog of human MEP50 with six WD40 domains. Medaka mep50 was ubiquitously expressed in the adult tissues and had maternal origin with continuous and dynamical expression during embryonic development detected by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization. A strong interaction of medaka Mep50 and Prmt5 was shown by yeast two hybridization. The expression pattern of mep50 is similar to that of prmt5 in medaka. The results suggested that medaka Mep50 could be a partner of Prmt5 and might play major roles in a variety of tissues in medaka.