title: Transgenic medaka that overexpress growth hormone have a skin color that does not indicate the activation or inhibition of somatolactin-α signal.
abstract: Teleosts have two paralogous growth-hormone receptors (GHRs). In vitro studies demonstrated that both receptors bind to and transmit the signal of the growth hormone (GH). However, one of the GHRs (GHR1) was shown to bind more strongly to somatolactin-α (SLα), a fish-specific peptide hormone that is closely related to GH, and is, therefore, termed somatolactin receptor (SLR). In this study, we questioned whether the dual binding of GHR1/SLR causes a crosstalk (reciprocal activation or inhibition) between GH and SLα signals in vivo. For this purpose, we newly established a transgenic medaka that overexpresses GH (Actb-GH:GFP) and assessed its phenotype. The body weight of these transgenic medaka is about twice that of wild-type fish, showing that functional GH was successfully overexpressed in Actb-GH:GFP fish. The transgenic medaka, especially female fish, showed severe infertility, which was a common side effect in GH transgenesis. The skin color, which reflects the effects of SLα most conspicuously in medaka, was similar to that of neither the SLα-overexpressing nor the SLα-deficient medaka, indicating that GH overexpression does not enhance or suppress the SLα signal. We also verified that a transgenic medaka that overexpressed SLα grew and reproduced normally. Therefore, regardless of the in vitro binding relationships, the GH and SLα signals seem not to crosstalk significantly in vivo even when these hormones are overexpressed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Japan Women's University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ritsuko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Komine
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimaki
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Basic Biology, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Aichi, Japan; National Institute for Basic Biology, Interuniversity Bio-Backup Project Center, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oota
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Basic Biology, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Naruse
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Japan Women's University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Japan Women's University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukamachi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D005260:Female; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D009990:Oryzias / Q000235:genetics*; D010907:Pituitary Hormones / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012880:Skin Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029941:Fish Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D010907:Pituitary Hormones; C064448:somatolactin protein, fish; D013006:Growth Hormone
keywords: Growth hormone; Paralogous receptors; Somatolactin-alpha; Subfunctionalization; Transgenic medaka