2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Identification of brood pouch-specific genes in seahorse
| Project/Area Number |
19K06793
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Review Section |
Basic Section 45020:Evolutionary biology-related
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Sophia University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
|
| Keywords | brood pouch / trasnposon / retroposon / seahorse |
|---|
| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Seahorses are one of teleostean fishes and have unique characteristics. One of them is that male seahorses possess a brood pouch on the ventral side of the body and protect their eggs in the pouch until parturition. Considering that brood pouch is uniquely found in their relatives, lineage-specific genes appeared during the evolution of seahorses.
In the present study, we newly found a gene expressed in flame cone cells uniquely found in species of the genus Hippocampus. The gene is translated into a protein possessing proline and glycine-rich sequences, and we named it "proline-glycine rich (PGrich) gene". The gene is estimated to be established from the antisense strand of the elastin gene by transposon or retroposon. Based on the analysis of genome sequences of various teleosts, we conclude that the gene emerged in the common ancestor of seahorse and pipefish.
|
| Free Research Field |
Evolutionary biology
|
| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
育児嚢は、タツノオトシゴを含むヨウジウオ科魚類のすべてのオスに見られる子育て器官である。その形態は体表に付着させるだけの単純なものから袋状のものまで主に5つの形態に分類され、ヨウジウオ科魚類の進化過程で頻繁にその形態が変化している。近縁種でのみ見られる器官ということは、ゲノム配列のわずかな違いによって形態を多様化させていると考えられ、形態進化を詳細に調べることが可能な良い実験題材である。ヨウジウオ科魚種は藻場やサンゴ礁など生活環境に合わせて多様化しており、ヨウジウオ科魚種の育児嚢の多様性進化について理解できれば、生物の生き残り戦略の一端を解き明かすことになる。
|
