Genes expressed in Blue Fin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) liver and gonads

Chini, Valentina; Cattaneo, Anna Giulia; Rossi, Federica; Bernardini, Giovanni; Terova, Genciana; Saroglia, Marco; Gornati, Rosalba

doi:10.1016/j.gene.2007.12.012

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…cDNA of 10 different tissues from an adult Pacific bluefin tuna were sequenced to identify coding gene regions in the scaffolds, recovering 5,741 full-length cDNA sequences out of 180,512 contigs obtained from 3.8 million 454 reads (Table S3). A tuna-specific training model (19) was then constructed with cDNA of this study and ESTs of the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) (20), as well as protein sequence alignments from Ensembl fish genes (21). As a result, 26,433 protein-coding gene candidates were predicted in the scaffolds ( Table 2 and Table S4).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary changes of multiple visual pigment genes in the complete genome of Pacific bluefin tuna

Nakamura

Mori

Saitoh

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

109

112

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Tunas are migratory fishes in offshore habitats and top predators with unique features. Despite their ecological importance and high market values, the open-ocean lifestyle of tuna, in which effective sensing systems such as color vision are required for capture of prey, has been poorly understood. To elucidate the genetic and evolutionary basis of optic adaptation of tuna, we determined the genome sequence of the Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis), using next-generation sequencing technology. A total of 26,433 protein-coding genes were predicted from 16,802 assembled scaffolds. From these, we identified five common fish visual pigment genes: red-sensitive (middle/long-wavelength sensitive; M/LWS), UV-sensitive (short-wavelength sensitive 1; SWS1), blue-sensitive (SWS2), rhodopsin (RH1), and green-sensitive (RH2) opsin genes. Sequence comparison revealed that tuna's RH1 gene has an amino acid substitution that causes a short-wave shift in the absorption spectrum (i.e., blue shift). Pacific bluefin tuna has at least five RH2 paralogs, the most among studied fishes; four of the proteins encoded may be tuned to blue light at the amino acid level. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis suggested that gene conversions have occurred in each of the SWS2 and RH2 loci in a short period. Thus, Pacific bluefin tuna has undergone evolutionary changes in three genes (RH1, RH2, and SWS2), which may have contributed to detecting blue-green contrast and measuring the distance to prey in the blue-pelagic ocean. These findings provide basic information on behavioral traits of predatory fish and, thereby, could help to improve the technology to culture such fish in captivity for resource management.tuna genome | visual system | animal opsin

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary changes of multiple visual pigment genes in the complete genome of Pacific bluefin tuna

Nakamura

Mori

Saitoh

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

109

112

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“…In other marine and catadromous teleosts, such as sole and eel, respectively, that like sea bream also spawn highly hydrated eggs, we show here that aqp1b also encodes a functional water channel whose RNA is predominantly accumulated in the ovary, suggesting a similar role of Aqp1b during oocyte hydration. In other pelagophil teleosts [32,33], as well as in some species of catfish, in which oocyte hydration may also occur despite having a freshwater life cycle (e.g., [34]), Aqp1b-encoding ESTs have also been found in the ovary. In contrast, in zebrafish, a freshwater species where almost no oocyte hydration is observed [35], we found a completely different aqp1b expression pattern, together with a higher mutation rate in the amino acid sequence of the encoded protein.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and functional divergence of two fish aquaporin-1 water channels following teleost-specific gene duplication

et al. 2008

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BackgroundTeleost radiation in the oceans required specific physiological adaptations in eggs and early embryos to survive in the hyper-osmotic seawater. Investigating the evolution of aquaporins (AQPs) in these vertebrates should help to elucidate how mechanisms for water homeostasis evolved. The marine teleost gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) has a mammalian aquaporin-1 (AQP1)-related channel, termed AQP1o, with a specialized physiological role in mediating egg hydration. However, teleosts have an additional AQP isoform structurally more similar to AQP1, though its relationship with AQP1o is unclear.ResultsBy using phylogenetic and genomic analyses we show here that teleosts, unlike tetrapods, have two closely linked AQP1 paralogous genes, termed aqp1a and aqp1b (formerly AQP1o). In marine teleosts that produce hydrated eggs, aqp1b is highly expressed in the ovary, whereas in freshwater species that produce non-hydrated eggs, aqp1b has a completely different expression pattern or is not found in the genome. Both Aqp1a and Aqp1b are functional water-selective channels when expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. However, expression of chimeric and mutated proteins in oocytes revealed that the sea bream Aqp1b C-terminus, unlike that of Aqp1a, contains specific residues involved in the control of Aqp1b intracellular trafficking through phosphorylation-independent and -dependent mechanisms.ConclusionWe propose that 1) Aqp1a and Aqp1b are encoded by distinct genes that probably originated specifically in the teleost lineage by duplication of a common ancestor soon after divergence from tetrapods, 2) Aqp1b possibly represents a neofunctionalized AQP adapted to oocytes of marine and catadromous teleosts, thereby contributing to a water reservoir in eggs and early embryos that increases their survival in the ocean, and 3) Aqp1b independently acquired regulatory domains in the cytoplasmatic C-terminal tail for the specific control of Aqp1b expression in the plasma membrane.

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“…Each independent microarray contains 44 000 in situ synthesized oligonucleotide probes with an average length of 50 nucleotides. The probes represent published ESTs derived from Atlantic bluefin tuna liver, ovaries and testis [18]. A total of 10163 ESTs were downloaded from GenBank (accession numbers: EC091633-EC093160, EG629962-EG631176, EC917676-EC919417, EG999340-EG999999, EH000001-EH000505, EH667253-EH668984, and EL610526-EL611807) using the Trace2bdEST component of the PartiGene EST-software pipeline [82].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Atlantic bluefin tuna gonad reproductive physiology has also been qualitatively investigated at the transcriptome level. Chini et al [18] sequenced and partially annotated expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries containing 10163 EST from the testis, ovary and liver of mature Thunnus thynnus . Similar transcriptome based studies are becoming increasingly prevalent amongst researchers to investigate physiological processes in a number of fish, especially in model organisms or fish with commercial relevance [19-21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microarray gene expression profiles from mature gonad tissues of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus in the Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2012

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BackgroundBluefin tunas are highly prized pelagic fish species representing a significant economic resource to fisheries throughout the world. Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) populations have significantly declined due to overexploitation. As a consequence of their value and population decline, T. thynnus has been the focus of considerable research effort concerning many aspects of their life history. However, in-depth understanding of T. thynnus reproductive biology is still lacking. Knowledge of reproductive physiology is a very important tool for determining effective fisheries and aquaculture management. Transcriptome techniques are proving powerful and provide novel insights into physiological processes. Construction of a microarray from T. thynnus ESTs sourced from reproductive tissues has provided an ideal platform to study the reproductive physiology of bluefin tunas. The aim of this investigation was to compare transcription profiles from the ovaries and testes of mature T. thynnus to establish sex specific variations underlying their reproductive physiology.ResultsMale and females T. thynnus gonad tissues were collected from the wild and histologically staged. Sub-samples of sexually mature tissues were also measured for their mRNA differential expression among the sexes using the custom microarray design BFT 4X44K. A total of 7068 ESTs were assessed for differential expression of which 1273 ESTs were significantly different (p<0.05) with >2 fold change in expression according to sex. Differential expression for 13 of these ESTs was validated with quantitative PCR. These include genes involved in egg envelope formation, hydration, and lipid transport/accumulation more highly expressed in ovaries compared with testis, while genes involved in meiosis, sperm motility and lipid metabolism were more highly expressed in testis compared with ovaries.ConclusionsThis investigation has furthered our knowledge of bluefin tunas reproductive biology by using a contemporary transcriptome approach. Gene expression profiles in T. thynnus sexually mature testes and ovaries were characterized with reference to gametogenesis and potential alternative functions. This report is the first application of microarray technology for bluefin tunas and demonstrates the efficacy by which this technique may be used for further characterization of specific biological aspects for this valuable teleost fish.

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Genes expressed in Blue Fin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) liver and gonads

Cited by 28 publications

References 25 publications

Evolutionary changes of multiple visual pigment genes in the complete genome of Pacific bluefin tuna

Evolutionary changes of multiple visual pigment genes in the complete genome of Pacific bluefin tuna

Structural and functional divergence of two fish aquaporin-1 water channels following teleost-specific gene duplication

Microarray gene expression profiles from mature gonad tissues of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus in the Gulf of Mexico

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