PUBLICATION
Conserved role of the urotensin II receptor 4 signalling pathway to control body straightness in a tetrapod
- Authors
- Alejevski, F., Leemans, M., Gaillard, A.L., Leistenschneider, D., de Flori, C., Bougerol, M., Le Mével, S., Herrel, A., Fini, J.B., Pézeron, G., Tostivint, H.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-210811-12
- Date
- 2021
- Source
- Open Biology 11: 210065 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Gaillard, Anne Laure, Pézeron, Guillaume, Tostivint, Hervé
- Keywords
- Xenopus, cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons, muscles, scoliosis, spinal cord, urotensin II
- MeSH Terms
-
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- Base Sequence
- Biological Evolution*
- Gene Expression Profiling
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
- Phylogeny*
- Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled/genetics
- Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled/metabolism*
- Sequence Homology
- Somatotypes*
- Urotensins/metabolism*
- Xenopus Proteins/genetics
- Xenopus Proteins/metabolism*
- Xenopus laevis
- PubMed
- 34375549 Full text @ Open Biol.
Citation
Alejevski, F., Leemans, M., Gaillard, A.L., Leistenschneider, D., de Flori, C., Bougerol, M., Le Mével, S., Herrel, A., Fini, J.B., Pézeron, G., Tostivint, H. (2021) Conserved role of the urotensin II receptor 4 signalling pathway to control body straightness in a tetrapod. Open Biology. 11:210065.
Abstract
Urp1 and Urp2 are two neuropeptides of the urotensin II family identified in teleost fish and mainly expressed in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-contacting neurons. It has been recently proposed that Urp1 and Urp2 are required for correct axis formation and maintenance. Their action is thought to be mediated by the receptor Uts2r3, which is specifically expressed in dorsal somites. In support of this view, it has been demonstrated that the loss of uts2r3 results in severe scoliosis in adult zebrafish. In the present study, we report for the first time the occurrence of urp2, but not of urp1, in two tetrapod species of the Xenopus genus. In X. laevis, we show that urp2 mRNA-containing cells are CSF-contacting neurons. Furthermore, we identified utr4, the X. laevis counterparts of zebrafish uts2r3, and we demonstrate that, as in zebrafish, it is expressed in the dorsal somatic musculature. Finally, we reveal that, in X. laevis, the disruption of utr4 results in an abnormal curvature of the antero-posterior axis of the tadpoles. Taken together, our results suggest that the role of the Utr4 signalling pathway in the control of body straightness is an ancestral feature of bony vertebrates and not just a peculiarity of ray-finned fishes.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping