title: OB-RL silencing inhibits the thermoregulatory ability of Great Roundleaf Bats (Hipposideros armiger).
abstract: Previous studies have shown that the hormone Leptin has an important role in mammalian heterothermy by regulating metabolism and food intake via lipolysis, as well as adaptive evolution of Leptin in heterothermic bats driven by selected pressure. However, the mechanism of Leptin in heterothermic regulation in mammals is unknown. By combining previous results, we speculated that the Leptin signaling pathway mediated by OB-RL (Leptin receptor long form) in the hypothalamus is important. OB-RL is one of the products of db gene and mainly distributed in the hypothalamus. In this study, we used OB-RL as a molecular marker, combining with the RNA interference technology and physiological/molecular analyses with Hipposideros armiger (a hibernating bat species) as an animal model, to explore the mechanism of Leptin in heterothermic regulation. Our data showed that all of four anti-OB-RL shRNA lentivirus significantly inhibited OB-RL expression (>90%), and the interference efficiency of PSC1742 lentivirus reached the highest value. In situ hybridization proved that PSC1742 lentivirus significantly decreased the OB-RL expression in the hypothalamus, especially in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VHM, 86.6%). Physiological analysis demonstrated that the thermoregulatory ability of bats (e.g., reducing core body temperature and heart rate) was significantly depressed after OB-RL silencing in the hypothalamus, and animals could not enter torpor state. Our study for the first time proved that the knock-down of OB-RL expression in hypothalamus inhibits heterothermic regulation of bats, and also provided the clues for further analyzing the mechanism of Leptin in the heterothermic regulation of mammals.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Tengteng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Entomological Institute/South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou 510260, China. Electronic address: yuanlh@gdei.gd.cn.
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, BS8 1UG Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gareth
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Panyu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Guimei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Entomological Institute/South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou 510260, China.
authors.forename: Jinping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institutes for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China. Electronic address: syzhang@bio.ecnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shuyi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000502:physiology*; D020868:Gene Silencing; D006339:Heart Rate; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D020738:Leptin / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics*; D054411:Receptors, Leptin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D020738:Leptin; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D054411:Receptors, Leptin
keywords: Bat; Heterothermic regulation; Leptin signaling pathway; OB-RL; RNA interference