Avian blood induced intranuclear translocation of STAT3 via the chicken leptin receptor.

Leptin is a multi-functional adipokine in vertebrates. The leptin gene and protein are found in many vertebrates; however, the existence of leptin in birds remains controversial. Here we detected leptin-like activity in avian blood using chicken leptin receptor (chLEPR) and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fused chicken signal transducer and activator of transcription co-expressed in CHO-K1 cells We validated that rat serum specifically induces intranuclear migration of GFP-fused in cells, but not in CHO-K1 cells expressing before testing the avian blood samples. Blood of chickens (Gallus gallus), wild jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos), and carrion crows (Corvus corone) accumulated the GFP signal into nuclei, and frequency varied in each blood sample. Western blotting showed that chicken and crow blood samples specifically phosphorylated in the chLEPR-transfected cells. These results indicate that avian blood contains a leptin-like molecule that specifically binds to LEPR, suggesting that the leptin system is conserved across all vertebrate classes.

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