Nuclear
and membrane progestin receptors in the European eel: characterization and
expression in vivo through
spermatogenesis
M. Morini,
D.S. Peñaranda, M.C. Vílchez, R. Nourizadeh-Lillabadi, A.G. Lafont, S.
Dufour, J.F. Asturiano, F.A. Weltzien, L. Pérez
Abstract
Characterization
of all the progestin receptor genes (PRs) found in the European eel has been performed.
There were five membrane PRs (mPRs): mPRα
(alpha), mPRAL1 (alpha-like1), mPRAL2 (alpha-like2), mPRγ (gamma), mPRδ (delta) and two nuclear PRs (nPRs or PGRs): pgr1 and pgr2. In silico studies
showed that the C and E(F) domains of Pgr are well conserved among
vertebrates whereas the A/B domain is not. Phylogeny and
synteny analyses suggest that eel duplicated pgr (pgr1 and pgr2) originated from the teleost-specific
third whole genome duplication (3R). mPR phylogeny
placed three
eel mPRs together with the mPRα clade, being termed mPRα, mPRAL1 and mPRAL2,
while the other two eel mPRs clustered with mPRγ and mPRδ clades, respectively.
The in vivo study showed differential expression patterns along the
brain-pituitary-gonad axis. An increase in nPR transcripts was observed in
brain (in pgr1) and pituitary (in pgr1 and pgr2) through the spermatogenesis, from the spermatogonia
B/spermatocyte stage to the spermiation stage. In
the testis, mPRγ, mPRδ and pgr2 transcripts
showed the highest levels in testis with A spermatogonia as dominant germ cell,
while the highest mPRα, mPRAL1
and mPRAL2 transcripts were observed
in testis from spermiating males, where the dominant germ cell were
spermatozoa. Further studies should elucidate the role of both nuclear and
membrane progestin receptors on eel spermatogenesis.
doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2017.02.009
Disponible en: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2017.02.009