Environment and plasticity of myogenesis in teleost fish

Abstract

Embryonic development in teleosts is profoundly affected by environmental conditions, particularly temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations. The environment determines the rate of myogenesis, the composition of sub-cellular organelles, patterns of gene expression, and the number and size distribution of muscle fibres. During the embryonic and larval stages, muscle plasticity to the environment is usually irreversible due to the rapid pace of ontogenetic change. In the early life stages, muscle can affect locomotory performance and behaviour, with potential consequences for larval survival. Postembryonic growth involves myogenic progenitor cells (MPCs) that originate in the embryo. The embryonic temperature regime can have long-term consequences for the growth of skeletal muscle in some species, including the duration and intensity of myotube formation in adult stages. In juvenile and adult fish, abiotic (temperature, day-length, water flow characteristics, hypoxia) and biotic factors (food availability, parasitic infection) have complex effects on the signalling pathways regulating the proliferation and differentiation of MPCs, protein synthesis and degradation, and patterns of gene expression. The phenotypic responses observed to the environment frequently vary during ontogeny and are integrated with endogenous physiological rhythms, particularly sexual maturation. Studies with model teleosts provide opportunities for investigating the underlying genetic mechanisms of muscle plasticity that can subsequently be applied to non-model species of more ecological or commercial interest.

Advances in research on the prenatal development of skeletal muscle in animals in relation to the quality of muscle-based food. I. Regulation of myogenesis and environmental impact

“…There are four MRFs (myf-5, myoD, myogenin and MRF4). Myf-5 and myoD are required for the commitment to the muscle cell type, whereas myogenin and MRF4 are important for inducing differentiation and formation of muscle fibres (see reviews by Te Pas and Soumillion, 2001;Brameld et al, 2003;Rehfeldt et al, 2004a;Stickland et al, 2004;Johnston, 2006;Chang, 2007;Brameld and Daniel, 2008).…”

“…The red and white muscle fibres in fish are arranged in discrete anatomical regions (Bone, 1978;Mascarello et al, 1995;Moutou et al, 2005;Silva et al, 2008) largely located in the hypaxial and epaxial muscles along the length of the body and represent 40% to 60% of body mass. Moreover, as fish are poikilotherms and do not regulate body temperature, changes in environmental temperature can have a profound impact on the rate of myogenesis, composition of sub-cellular organelles, patterns of gene expression and the number and size distribution of muscle fibres (reviewed by Johnston, 2006). During the embryonic and larval stages, fish muscle plasticity in response to the environment is usually irreversible due to the rapid pace of ontogenetic change with potential consequences for larval survival as well as long-lasting effects on white muscle cellularity, including the duration and intensity of myotube formation in adult stages.…”

“…Rescan and co-workers used whole mount in situ hybridisation of rainbow trout with a large repertoire of somitespecific transcripts to describe the gene activations that underlie the somite patterning in teleost fish (Chauvigné et al, 2005 and2006;Rescan, 2005 and2008). They showed that the pax7-positive external cell layer that provides myogenic cell for the growth of the embryonic myotome also exhibits features of dermogenic differentiation as indicated by the expression of Dermo-1 (Dumont et al, 2008) and collagen .…”

“…Nutritional influences on muscle development in fish and poultry The environment determines the rate of myogenesis, the composition of sub-cellular organelles, patterns of gene expression (Fernandes et al, 2006) and the number and size distribution of muscle fibres in fish (reviewed by Johnston, 2006). Knowledge about the influence of nutrition on muscle development and growth is still rudimentary in fish, but was explored during the COST action by Silva et al (2009b) who analysed muscle cellularity in blackspot sea bream (Pagellus bogaraveo, Brunnich) juveniles fed on diets with different protein contents (20% to 60%).…”

“…In trout, fasting followed by refeeding causes a switch to fast growth and involves the local upregulation of several components of the IGF system (Gabillard et al, 2006a). Moreover, IGF-I stimulates cell proliferation in both rainbow trout (Castillo et al, 2004 and2006) and gilthead sea bream (Montserrat et al, 2007c) muscle cells in vitro and IGF-II has both mitogenic and metabolic effects in trout muscle cell cultures (Codina et al, 2008).…”