Brain of the blind:transcriptomics of the golden-line cavefish brain  

作　　者：Fanwei MENG Yahui ZHAO Tom TITUS Chunguang ZHANG John H.POSTLETHWAIT 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology,Institute of Zoology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China [2]Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution,Institute of Zoology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China [3]Institute of Neuroscience,University of Oregon,Eugene,OR 97403,USA

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2018年第6期765-773,共9页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：financially supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China NSFC31372191(F.W.M.),NSFC31471961 (Y.H.Z.); NIH grants NIH R01 OD011116(J.H.P.) ; R24RR032670 (J.H.P.).

摘　　要：The genus Sinocyclocheilus (golden-line barbel) includes 25species of cave-dwelling blind fish (cavefish)and more than 30 surface-dwelling species with normal vision.Cave environments are dark and generally nutrient-poor with few predators.Cavefish of several genera evolved convergent morphological adaptations in visual,pigmentation,brain,olfactory,and digestive systems. We compared brain morphology and gene expression patterns in a cavefish Sinocyclocheilus anophthalmus with those of a closely related surface-dwelling species S.angustiporus.Results showed that cavefish have a longer olfactory tract and a much smaller optic tectum than surface fish.Transcriptomics by RNA-seq revealed that many genes upregulated in cavefish are related to lysosomes and the degradation and metabolism of proteins,amino acids,and lipids.Genes down- regulated in cavefish tended to involve "activation of gene expression in cholesterol biosynthesis" and cholesterol degradation in the brain.Genes encoding Srebfs (sterol regulatory element- binding transcription factors)and Srebf targets,including enzymes in cholesterol synthesis,were downregulated in cavefish brains compared with surface fish brains.The gene encoding Cyp46a1, which eliminates cholesterol from the brain,was also downregulated in cavefish brains,while the total level of cholesterol in the brain remained unchanged.Cavefish brains misexpressed several genes encoding proteins in the hypothalamus-pituitary axis,including Trh,Sst,Crh,Pomc,and Mc4r.These results suggest that the rate of lipid biosynthesis and breakdown may both be depressed in golden-line cavefish brains but that the lysosome recycling rate may be increased in cavefish;properties that might be related to differences in nutrient availability in caves.

关 键 词：CAVEFISH CHOLESTEROL cyp46a optic TECTUM SINOCYCLOCHEILUS TRANSCRIPTOMICS 

分 类 号：Q[生物学]