The Molt Inhibiting Hormone gene and cDNA of the banana shrimp Fenneropenaeus merguiensis (FmMIH1) has been cloned and characterized. FmMIH1 possesses most of the characteristics of the eyestalk CHH/MIH/GIH family subtype-II neuropeptides. FmMIH1 open reading frame consists of 315 bp encoding for 105 amino acid residues. The mature peptide of FmMIH1 consists of 76 amino acid residues, a glycine residue at position 11 of the mature peptide and 6 cysteine residues located in the conserved position. In addition to eyestalk, high levels of FmMIH1 transcript could also be detected in the intestine. FmMIH1 transcript level is low throughout the post-molt, early to mid-intermolt and premolt. However, a sharp increase could be observed in late intermolt (C3 stage). Both alignment and phylogenetic analysis reveal that FmMIH1 is most similar to the MIH1 of other shrimps. For functional assay, RNA interference results show that a significant 2.3 days (P < 0.05) reduction in molt cycle duration could be observed in shrimp receiving dsFmMIH1 injection. Surprisingly, injection of recombinant FmMIH1 could also cause a significant reduction of the molt cycle (average 1.9 days, P < 0.05). We hypothesize that the recombinant protein is biological inactive but it competes with the endogenous MIH for carrier protein binding and consequently reduces the amount of biological MIH that could reach the targets. In conclusion, the result of this study will provide us new insight in molting/growth control in crustacean.
