Zebrafish pituitary gene expression before and after sexual maturation.
Sexual maturation and somatic growth cessation are associated with adolescent development, which is precisely controlled by interconnected neuroendocrine regulatory pathways in the endogenous endocrine system. The pituitary gland is one of the key regulators of the endocrine system. By analyzing the RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) transcriptome before and after sexual maturation, in this study, we characterized the global gene expression patterns in zebrafish pituitaries at 45 and 90 days post-fertilization (dpf). A total of 15 043 annotated genes were expressed in the pituitary tissue, 3072 of which were differentially expressed with a greater than or equal to twofold change between pituitaries at 45 and 90 dpf. In the pituitary transcriptome, the most abundant transcript was gh. The expression levels of gh remained high even after sexual maturation at 90 dpf. Among the eight major pituitary hormone genes, lhb was the only gene that exhibited a significant change in its expression levels between 45 and 90 dpf. Significant changes in the pituitary transcripts included genes involved in the regulation of immune responses, bone metabolism, and hormone secretion processes during the juvenile-sexual maturity transition. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis was carried out to verify the RNA-seq transcriptome results and demonstrated that the expression patterns of the eight major pituitary hormone genes did not exhibit a significant gender difference at 90 dpf. For the first time, we report the quantitative global gene expression patterns at the juvenile and sexual maturity stages. These expression patterns may account for the dynamic neuroendocrine regulation observed in body metabolism.
Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of China.
Wenxia
W
He
Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of China.
Xiangyan
X
Dai
Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of China.
Xiaowen
X
Chen
Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of China.
Jiangyan
J
He
Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation of Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, People's Republic of ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, People's Republic of China zyin@ihb.ac.cn.
Zhan
Z
Yin
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008297:Male; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D010907:Pituitary Hormones / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000235:genetics*; D013997:Time Factors; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D010907:Pituitary Hormones; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins
RNA-seq transcriptome; adolescent transition; endocrine signal; pituitary; zebrafish