Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) gene family in the brain of the teleost fish Catostomus commersoni (white sucker): molecular analysis predicts distinct precursors for two CRFs and one urotensin I peptide.

Molecular cloning experiments indicate the presence of two distinct CRF genes in the sucker genome encoding independent 162-amino-acid precursors, which both consist of a signal sequence, succeeded by a cryptic peptide and subsequently by the hormone moiety. The two 41-amino-acid CRF peptides differ by an Ala-->Val substitution at amino acid position 28. CRF transcripts are primarily found in the sucker pre-optic nucleus (PON), to a much lesser extent in the lateral tuberal nucleus (LTN). In contrast, urotensin I (U I) encoding mRNA is equally present in both tissues. In urophysectomized fish, U I mRNA is elevated especially in LTN tissue, while CRF mRNA levels remain more or less constant in the PON and LTN regions.