Abstract: Gonadotropin plays an important role in the sexual maturation and ovulation of fishes. The controversy about the types of fish gonadotropins has come to an end after 1975. It is generally believed that there are two kinds of gonadotropin subunits, GTHI and GTHII, whose biochemical structure and biological characteristics are similar to those of the FSH and LH in the mammalian. Along with the gradual development of molecular biology, research on gonadotropin has been accrurd over the years. In this paper, authors first review the literature on the biological basis, including biochemical structure, physiological function and regulation mechanism and so on. The current research of molecular cloning of gonadotropins of teleost, the quantitative analysis and recombinant expression of gonadotropins in fishes were summarized. The purpose of this paper is to provide a valuable reference for the study on the physiology of aquaculture and to lay the foundation for further research on the mechanism of gonadotropins.

Key words: gonadotropin, gene, expression, fish