Glycoprotein hormone in the pituitary of hagfish and its evolutionary implications

The pituitary gland is present in all vertebrates, from agnathans (jawless vertebrates) to mammals, but not in invertebrates. Reproduction in gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) is controlled by two pituitary gonadotropins (GTHs), luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, which are part of the pituitary glycoprotein hormone (GPH) family. Hagfishes, which lack both jaws and vertebrae, are considered the most primitive vertebrate known, living or extinct. Accordingly, they are of particular importance in understanding the evolution of the pituitary GPHs and their functions related to vertebrate reproduction. Nevertheless, key elements of the reproductive endocrine system in hagfish have yet to be elucidated. Our current report has revealed the first identification of a functional GPH composed of two subunits that possess gonadotropic action at the pituitary of brown hagfish. It seems most likely that an ancestral GPH gave rise to only one GTH in hagfish pituitary and that multiplicity of GPHs arose later during the early evolution of gnathostomes. This paper briefly summarizes the latest findings on the hagfish GPH from an evolutionary point of view.     

Differences in lamina joint anatomy cause cultivar differences in leaf inclination angle of rice

ABSTRACT

Leaf erectness is an important agronomic trait for improving canopy photosynthesis in rice. It is well known that leaf inclination angle (LIA) decreases after expansion during ripening. However, the high-yielding indica cultivar ‘Takanari’ retains a greater LIA during ripening than the high-quality japonica cultivar ‘Koshihikari’. To clarify the cause of the cultivar difference in LIA, we investigated anatomical characteristics of the lamina joint of a flag leaf. We found a close linear correlation between LIA at the centre and at the base of the leaf blade in both cultivars during ripening. The length of the lamina joint increased significantly more on the adaxial side of a leaf (the margin of the collar) than on the abaxial side (the abaxial side of the central part of the collar) in ‘Koshihikari’ after leaf expansion, but there was no clear difference in ‘Takanari’. We found a close linear correlation between the ratio of lamina joint length on the adaxial to abaxial sides and LIA in ‘Koshihikari’ and ‘Takanari’ during ripening. In ‘Koshihikari’, the average length of cells on the adaxial side increased significantly after leaf expansion, with no significant increase in that on the abaxial side and no significant change in cell number on either side. In ‘Takanari’, cell length and cell number showed no significant changes on either side of the lamina joint. We conclude that the cultivar difference in LIA during ripening is caused mainly by cell elongation on the adaxial side of the lamina joint.

List of Abbreviations: k: light extinction coefficient; LIA: leaf inclination angle; QTL: quantitative trait locus     

Energy budget of the Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus (Temminck & Schlegel) larvae fed HUFA-enriched and non-enriched Artemia nauplii

The energy budget of the Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus (Temminck & Schlegel) larvae fed enriched (EA) and non‐enriched (NEA) Artemia nauplii was determined by equating energy intake (EI) with the summation of energy channelled to faeces (F), metabolism (M), excretion (U) and growth (G). Larvae (21 days post hatching, 2.2 mg mean wet wt) were reared in six 80‐L circular tanks with three replicates of 160 larvae per tank and fed EA and NEA for 20 days. EI was calculated from the energy content of consumed nauplii, M from the summation of energy for routine, feeding and active metabolisms, U from ammonia excretion and G from energy gained based on weight gain, while F was the difference between EI and the total of other components. The heat increment of larvae was calculated from the difference of O₂ consumption at post‐prandial and routine conditions. Except for G and F, variables were correlated to the dry body weight (W) of larvae in a power function: Y=aW^b. Coefficients a and b were estimated by regression after a logarithmic transformation of the raw data. Overall, growth and survival rates of the larvae fed EA were higher than those fed NEA. For a larval flounder growing from 2 to 20 mg wet wt, the ingested energy was partitioned as follows: 22.8% to faecal loss, 38.3% to metabolism, 1.5% to urinary loss and 37.4% to growth for the EA group, whereas 35.4% to faecal loss, 28.4% to metabolism, 1.3% to urinary loss and 34.9% to growth for the NEA group. Gross conversion and assimilation efficiencies were higher, but the net conversion efficiency was lower in EA‐fed larvae than NEA‐fed larvae. This study suggests that the higher growth and survival rates of the EA‐fed group compared with the NEA‐fed group were attributed to their higher intake of essential fatty acids, higher metabolism and lower energy loss of faeces.