Molecular cloning and characteristics analysis of from .

is cultured for pearl production. Growth improvement has received considerable research interest. Transforming growth factor β type Ⅰ receptor (TβR-I), which is involved in signals transmission of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), participates in cell proliferation and growth. In this study, we characterized a gene which encoded TβR-I from (). cDNA contains an open reading frame of 1569 bp and encodes a polypeptide of 522 amino acids (aa). Pmtgfbr1 possesses a typical TβR-I structure (extracellular receptor ligand domain, transmembrane domain, and cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase catalytic domain). is expressed in all the studied tissues and exhibited the highest expression level in the adductor muscle. Moreover, exhibited the lower expression level in the larger group (L) than that in the smaller group (S) and is negatively correlated with growth traits ( < 0.01). Our results indicated that is a candidate functional gene associated with growth traits.