PUBLICATION

Thyroid Hormones Regulate Zebrafish Melanogenesis in a Gender-Specific Manner

Authors
Guillot, R., Muriach, B., Rocha, A., Rotllant, J., Kelsh, R.N., Cerdá-Reverter, J.M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-161111-4
Date
2016
Source
PLoS One   11: e0166152 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Cerdá-Reverter, José Miguel, Kelsh, Robert, Rotllant, Josep
Keywords
Zebrafish, Melanophores, Gene expression, Transcription factors, Diet, Pigments, Melanin, Thyroid hormones
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Dietary Supplements
  • Female
  • Gene Expression/drug effects
  • Male
  • Melanins/metabolism*
  • Melanophores/drug effects*
  • Melanophores/metabolism
  • Oxidoreductases/genetics
  • Pigmentation/drug effects
  • Pigmentation/genetics
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sex Factors
  • Triiodothyronine/administration & dosage
  • Triiodothyronine/blood
  • Triiodothyronine/pharmacology*
  • Zebrafish/genetics
  • Zebrafish/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
PubMed
27832141 Full text @ PLoS One
Abstract
Zebrafish embryos are treated with anti-thyroidal compounds, such as phenylthiourea, to inhibit melanogenesis. However, the mechanism whereby the thyroidal system controls melanin synthesis has not been assessed in detail. In this work, we tested the effect of the administration of diets supplemented with T3 (500μg/g food) on the pigment pattern of adult zebrafish. Oral T3 induced a pronounced skin paling in both adult female and male zebrafish that was reversible upon cessation of treatment. The number of visible melanophores was significantly reduced in treated fish. Accordingly, treatment down-regulated expression of tyrosinase-related protein 1 in both sexes. We also found sexually dimorphic regulation of some melanogenic genes, such as Dct/Tyrp2 that was dramatically up-regulated in females after T3 treatment. Thus, we demonstrated that melanogenesis is reversibly inhibited by thyroid hormones in adult zebrafish and make the discovery of gender-specific differences in the response of melanogenic gene expression. Thus, fish gender is now shown to be an important variable that should be controlled in future studies of fish melanogenesis.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping