| Summary: | Growth factors are mostly secreted proteins that play key roles in an organism’s biophysical processes through binding to specific receptors on the cell surface. The mollusk-like growth factor (<i>MLGF</i>) is a novel cell signaling protein in the adenosine deaminase-related growth factor (ADGF) subfamily. In this study, the <i>MLGF</i> gene was cloned and characterized from the digestive gland tissue of Pacific abalone and designated as <i>Hdh-MLGF</i>. The transcribed full-length sequence of <i>Hdh-MLGF</i> was 1829 bp long with a 1566 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding 521 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence contained a putative signal peptide and two conserved adenosine deaminase domains responsible for regulating molecular function. Fluorescence in situ hybridization localized <i>Hdh-MLGF</i> in the submucosa layer of digestive tubules in the digestive gland. The mRNA expression analysis indicated that <i>Hdh-MLGF</i> expression was restricted to the digestive gland in the adult Pacific abalone. However, <i>Hdh-MLGF</i> mRNA expressions were observed in all stages of embryonic and larval development, suggesting <i>Hdh-MLGF</i> might be involved in the Pacific abalone embryonic and larval development. This is the first study describing <i>Hdh-MLGF</i> and its involvement in the Pacific abalone embryonic and larval development.
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