No abstract

Androgenic gland hormone (AGH), which is produced in the male-specific androgenic gland (AG) and controls sex differentiation in crustaceans, has been characterized only from isopod species. To date, complementary DNA (cDNA) encoding an androgenic gland-specific polypeptide, which was designated as an insulin-like androgenic gland factor (IAG), has been cloned from three decapod species. IAG has been thought to be a candidate for AGH in decapod crustaceans; however, there has been no clear evidence. To accumulate sequence information of additional IAGs, we cloned cDNA encoding an IAG precursor from the kuruma prawn Marsupenaeus japonicus by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) coupled with 5 0 -and 3 0