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Tide-related Changes in mRNA Abundance of Aromatases and Estrogen Receptors in the Ovary and Brain of the Threespot Wrasse Halichoeres trimaculatus

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Abstract

The threespot wrasse (Halichoeres trimaculatus; Family Labridae) is a common coral reef species of the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Given that this species spawns daily at high tide (HT), we hypothesized that endocrine changes in relation to gonadal development are synchronized with the tidal cycle. To test this, we examined the transcript abundance of two cytochrome P450 aromatases (cyp19a and cyp19b) and two estrogen receptors (erα and erβ) in the ovary and brain of this species in response to tidal change. When fish were collected around four tidal points [low tide (LT), flood tide (FT), high tide (HT), and ebb tide (ET)], gonadosomatic index and oocyte diameter increased around HT and FT, respectively. Ovulatory follicles were observed in ovaries around HT. Real-time quantitative polymerase-chain reaction revealed that mRNA abundance of cyp19a and erα, but not erβ, in the ovary increased around ET and HT, respectively. On the other hand, mRNA levels of cyp19b in the forebrain were significantly higher around FT. Increases of erα and erβ mRNA abundance around FT were observed in all areas of the brain and the midbrain, respectively. The changes in mRNA abundance of key genes involved in reproduction at specific tidal cycles, along with the development of the vitellogenic oocytes in the ovary, support our hypothesis that synchronization of endocrine changes to the tidal periodicity plays a role in the gonadal development of this species. We hypothesize that conversion of testosterone to E2 in the brain may be associated with the spawning behavior given that the wrasse exhibits group spawning with a territory-holding male around HT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jeju Biodiversity Research Institute, Jeju Technopark, Seogwipo, 63608, Korea

    Dae-Ju Oh & Ji-Gweon Park

  2. Jeju Environment Research Section, Jeju International Marine Science Research & Logistics Center, KIOST, Jeju, 63349, Korea

    Sung-Pyo Hur

  3. Department of Chemistry, Biology and Marine Science, Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, 903-0213, Japan

    Selma Bouchekioua, Yuki Takeuchi, Shingo Udagawa, Yong-Ju Park & Akihiro Takemura

  4. Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju, 63243, Korea

    Se-Jae Kim

  5. Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    Neelakanteswar Aluru

  6. Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada

    Thomas W. Moon

  7. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Mathilakath M. Vijayan

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  1. Dae-Ju Oh
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  12. Akihiro Takemura
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Correspondence to Sung-Pyo Hur.

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Oh, DJ., Hur, SP., Bouchekioua, S. et al. Tide-related Changes in mRNA Abundance of Aromatases and Estrogen Receptors in the Ovary and Brain of the Threespot Wrasse Halichoeres trimaculatus. Ocean Sci. J. 53, 239–249 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-018-0016-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-018-0016-0

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