Embryonic beta-globin in the non-Antarctic notothenioid fish Cottoperca gobio (Bovichtidae).

Haemoglobins are sensitive to temperature and their properties mirror the thermal conditions encountered by species during their evolutionary histories. This paper provides data on molecular phylogeny of the haemoglobin chains of Cottoperca gobio, a notothenioid fish of sub-Antarctic latitudes, belonging to the basal family Bovichtidae. Unlike most Antarctic notothenioids, C. gobio has two major haemoglobins sharing the â chain. In the molecular phylogenetic analysis, the â chain is included in the clade of the “embryonic” or minor Antarctic globins. Although, in the majority of notothenioids, “embryonic” (minor) á and â globins are expressed in traces or small amounts in the adult stage, in C. gobio the present analysis supports the occurrence of a complete “switch” to exclusive expression of the embryonic â-globin gene in adult fish. The á and â chains sequences have been used to expand our knowledge of the evolution of notothenioid haemoglobins. The protein sequence data reported in this paper will appear in the UniProt Knowledge base under the accession number: P84652 (â chain), P84653 (á 1 chain)