Neuroglobin has been identified as a respiratory protein that is primarily expressed in the mammalian nervous system. Here we present the first detailed analysis of neuroglobin from a non-mammalian vertebrate, the zebrafish Danio rerio. The zebrafish neuroglobin gene reveals a mammalian-type exon-intron pattern in the coding region (B12.2, E11.0, and G7.0), plus an additional 5-non-coding exon. Similar to the mammalian neuroglobin, the zebrafish protein displays a hexacoordinate deoxy-binding scheme. Flash photolysis kinetics show the competitive binding on the millisecond timescale of external ligands and the distal histidine, resulting in an oxygen affinity of 1 torr. Western blotting, immune staining, and mRNA in situ hybridization demonstrate neuroglobin expression in the fish central nervous system and the retina but also in the gills. Neurons containing neuroglobin have a widespread distribution in the brain but are also present in the olfactory system. In the fish retina, neuroglobin is mainly present in the inner segments of the photoreceptor cells. In the gills, the chloride cells were identified to express neuroglobin. Neuroglobin appears to be associated with mitochondria-rich cell types and thus oxygen consumption rates, suggesting a myoglobin-like function of this protein in facilitated oxygen diffusion.Transport and storage of oxygen in vertebrate animals are typically mediated by globins, small proteins that bind O 2 by the means of a porphyrin-coordinated Fe 2ϩ ion (1-3). The heterotetrameric hemoglobin is present in red blood cells of nearly all vertebrates and transports O 2 in the circulatory system from the respiratory surfaces to the inner organs. The monomeric myoglobin, typically found in the myocytes of cardiac and striated muscles, facilitates intracellular O 2 diffusion to the mitochondria and stores O 2 (3, 4) but also functions as an nitric-oxide dioxygenase (5). Neuroglobin (Ngb) 1 and cytoglobin are two recently discovered vertebrate globins (6 -9). Whereas cytoglobin might play a role in collagen synthesis (10, 11), the leading hypotheses suggest Ngb to be involved in neuronal oxygen homeostasis (6,(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Ngb shares only a few amino acids with vertebrate hemoglobin and myoglobin (Ͻ25% identity) but rather resembles the nerve-specific globins known in some invertebrates (6, 13). In fact, phylogenetic analyses suggest an ancient origin of Ngb, probably diverging from the other globins before the Protostomia-Deuterostomia split (6, 8). Mouse and human deoxy-Ngb display hexacordinated hemochrome-binding schemes at the Fe 2ϩ (17, 18). The proximal histidine can be replaced by an external ligand such as O 2 , resulting in an oxygen affinity (P 50 ) of ϳ1-2 torr, similar to that of myoglobin (6, 17).Initially, Ngb was found to be predominantly expressed in the brains of man and mouse (6), but recent analyses show Ngb to be also present in the peripheral nervous system and some non-neuronal endocrine tissues (19 -21). Particularly high amounts of Ngb were observed in the m...