Journal
GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY
Volume 184, Issue -, Pages 35-41Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2012.08.006
Keywords
Amphioxus; Branchiostoma belcheri; GpHR; Cloning; Expression; Evolution
Categories
Funding
- Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China [2008AA09Z411]
- Chinese Ministry of Education [208077]
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Amphioxus is phylogenetically located at the most primitive position of the chordate clade. Its endocrine system has been extensively studied; however, key information about the glycoprotein hormone (GpH) and its receptor (GpHR) in the endocrine system remained to be elucidated. In this study, a GpHR homologous gene, BbGpHR-like, has been identified in the amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri. It contains a 1377 bp open reading frame that corresponds to a deduced protein of 458 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of approximately 50 kDa. Phylogenetic analysis shows that BbGpHR-like is located at the position between vertebrate and invertebrate, indicating amphioxus B. belcheri is in an evolutionary transitional state between vertebrate and invertebrate in the GpHR lineage. BbGpHR-like has been successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris. Western blot analysis confirmed that the receptor produced a cross-immunoreactivity with human thyrotropin receptor (TSHR), the luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) and the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR). In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that the BbGpHR-like transcripts and proteins were strongly distributed in the ovaries, testes and/or endostyle. These findings suggest that BbGpHR-like possibly plays an ancient and fundamental role in the control of thyroid hormone synthesis and gametogenesis in chordates. Presumably, the amphioxus BbGpHR-like represents the ancestral form of the GpHR gene prior to its split to the vertebrate paralogs gonadotropin receptor and thyrotropin receptor. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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