title: Zebrafish akt2 is essential for survival, growth, bone development, and glucose homeostasis.
abstract: As one of three akt isoforms, akt2 plays a key role in the regulation of widely divergent cellular processes in mammals. However, its role and underlying mechanisms in zebrafish remain largely unknown. To elucidate the function of akt2 in zebrafish, we generated zebrafish lacking akt2 gene via CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Akt2-null zebrafish exhibit partial lethality and severe growth deficiency, which is different from those observed in akt2-null mice. Furthermore, akt2-null zebrafish display deficiency in fin ray development, but their cartilage is not affected. Similar to observations in akt2-null mice, akt2-null zebrafish display impaired glucose homeostasis. However, in contrast to that in akt2-null mice, insulin level is lower in akt2-null zebrafish, implicating the symptoms of type I diabetes exhibited in akt2-null zebrafish. In addition, transcriptome analysis reveals that the genes involved in metabolism and osteogenesis are disturbed in akt2-null zebrafish. Taken together, these data not only support an important role of akt2 in zebrafish survival, growth, bone development and glucose homeostasis, but also suggest that akt2 has divergent functions between mice and zebrafish, even though they are evolutionarily conserved.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Dawei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Chi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.; State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.; Key laboratory of Aquaculture Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan 430072, PR China.. Electronic address: w-xiao@ihb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Wuhan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D058500:Animal Fins / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001846:Bone Development / Q000235:genetics*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000378:metabolism; D064113:CRISPR-Cas Systems; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D000072669:Gene Editing; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D016678:Genome; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006706:Homeostasis; D007328:Insulin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013045:Species Specificity; D059467:Transcriptome; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Akt2; Fin ray development; Glucose homeostasis; Zebrafish