title: Genes encoding aromatases in teleosts: evolution and expression regulation.
abstract: Cytochrome P450 aromatases, encoded by cyp19a1 genes, catalyzes the conversion of androgens to estrogens and plays important roles in the reproduction of vertebrates. Vertebrate cyp19a1 genes showed high synteny in chromosomal locations and conservation in sequences during evolution. However, amphioxus cyp19a1 does not show synteny to vertebrate cyp19a1. Teleost fish possess two copies of the cyp19a1 gene, which were postulated to result from a fish-specific genome duplication. The duplicated copies of fish cyp19a1 genes evolved into the brain and ovarian forms of cytochrome P450 aromatase genes, cyp19a1a and cyp19a1b, respectively, with different regulatory mechanisms of expression, through subfunctionalization under long-term selective pressure. In addition to the estradiol (E2) auto-regulatory loop, there may be other mechanisms responsible for the high expression of aromatase in the teleost brain. The study of the two cyp19a1 copies in teleost fish will shed light on the general evolution, function, and regulation of vertebrate cyp19a1.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Huijie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. Electronic address: zhlih@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. Electronic address: lsszwm@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Weimin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001141:Aromatase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics*; D018628:Gene Dosage; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D026801:Synteny / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001141:Aromatase
keywords: Cyp19a1a; Cyp19a1b; Evolution; Expression regulation; Teleost