PUBLICATION

Immunogenetic losses co-occurred with seahorse male pregnancy and mutation in tlx1 accompanied functional asplenia

Authors
Liu, Y., Qu, M., Jiang, H., Schneider, R., Qin, G., Luo, W., Yu, H., Zhang, B., Wang, X., Zhang, Y., Zhang, H., Zhang, Z., Wu, Y., Zhang, Y., Yin, J., Zhang, S., Venkatesh, B., Roth, O., Meyer, A., Lin, Q.
ID
ZDB-PUB-221210-14
Date
2022
Source
Nature communications   13: 76107610 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Meyer, Axel, Venkatesh, Byrappa
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Zebrafish
  • Animals
  • Female
  • Smegmamorpha*/genetics
  • Mutation
  • Reproduction/genetics
  • Sexual Behavior, Animal
  • Male
(all 8)
PubMed
36494371 Full text @ Nat. Commun.
Abstract
In the highly derived syngnathid fishes (pipefishes, seadragons & seahorses), the evolution of sex-role reversed brooding behavior culminated in the seahorse lineage's male pregnancy, whose males feature a specialized brood pouch into which females deposit eggs during mating. Then, eggs are intimately engulfed by a placenta-like tissue that facilitates gas and nutrient exchange. As fathers immunologically tolerate allogenic embryos, it was suggested that male pregnancy co-evolved with specific immunological adaptations. Indeed, here we show that a specific amino-acid replacement in the tlx1 transcription factor is associated with seahorses' asplenia (loss of spleen, an organ central in the immune system), as confirmed by a CRISPR-Cas9 experiment using zebrafish. Comparative genomics across the syngnathid phylogeny revealed that the complexity of the immune system gene repertoire decreases as parental care intensity increases. The synchronous evolution of immunogenetic alterations and male pregnancy supports the notion that male pregnancy co-evolved with the immunological tolerance of the embryo.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Figure Gallery (4 images)
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Expression
Phenotype
Fish Conditions Stage Phenotype Figure
tlx1zf3887/zf3887standard conditionsAdult
tlx1zf3888/zf3888standard conditionsAdult
tlx1zf3889/zf3889standard conditionsAdult
1 - 3 of 3
Show
Mutations / Transgenics
Allele Construct Type Affected Genomic Region
zf3887
    		Small Deletion
    zf3888
      		Point Mutation
      zf3889
        		Point Mutation
        1 - 3 of 3
        Show
        Human Disease / Model
        Sequence Targeting Reagents
        Fish
        Antibodies
        Orthology
        Engineered Foreign Genes
        No data available
        Mapping
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        Citation
        Liu, Y., Qu, M., Jiang, H., Schneider, R., Qin, G., Luo, W., Yu, H., Zhang, B., Wang, X., Zhang, Y., Zhang, H., Zhang, Z., Wu, Y., Zhang, Y., Yin, J., Zhang, S., Venkatesh, B., Roth, O., Meyer, A., Lin, Q. (2022) Immunogenetic losses co-occurred with seahorse male pregnancy and mutation in tlx1 accompanied functional asplenia. Nature communications. 13:76107610.