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Expression of Developmental-Stage-Specific Genes in the Gilthead Sea Bream Sparus aurata L.

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Abstract

The mechanism of early fish development as well as the control of egg quality is of great importance for the ability of the oocyte to develop after fertilization. Embryonic development is initially regulated by maternally provided mRNAs and later by the zygotic genome. Maternal mRNAs have an important role in initiating processes crucial to patterning the developing fish embryo. Furthermore, it has been shown that maternal RNA plays an important role in egg quality. The identification and characterization of candidate maternal genes in non-model fish species with important aquaculture interest like the gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata L. is of importance for future studies related to egg quality. The broodstock of the gilthead sea bream produces large quantities of eggs with a high and non-controllable quality variation. In the present study, we have studied the gene expression of 16 genes (gapdh 1 and 2, cathepsin D, L, S and Z, erk1, jnk1, p38 alpha and p38 delta, ppar alpha, beta and gamma, tubulin beta, ferritin M, cyclinA2) of different functional categories in seven developmental stages. The 16 genes were chosen based on their putative involvement in egg quality and regulation of early development. In total, 11 showed a characteristic gene expression pattern pinpointing to the possible function as maternal genes and thus may function as molecular biomarker for egg quality.

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank the Department of Aquaculture and specifically Dr. Constantinos Mylonas and Dr. Pascal Divanach for providing embryonic and larvae stages. We also would like to thank FPU (MICINN, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, AP2007–03178).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, P.O. Box 2214, 71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Carmen García Fernández, Chrysoula Roufidou & Elena Sarropoulou

  2. Laboratory of Aquaculture Genetic, Department of Functional Biology, University of Oviedo, Julián Clavería s/n, 33006, Oviedo, Spain

    Carmen García Fernández

  3. Laboratory of Animal Physiology, Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Chrysoula Roufidou & Efthimia Antonopoulou

Authors
  1. Carmen García Fernández
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  2. Chrysoula Roufidou
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  3. Efthimia Antonopoulou
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  4. Elena Sarropoulou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elena Sarropoulou.

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Supplement data 1

Developmental stages used in the present study. (S1) 2,4 cell stage, (S2) 16 cell stage, (S3) towards morula, (S4) morula, (S5) high blastula (S6) start of gastrula and (S7) ½ epibolie. (JPEG 60 kb)

Supplement data 2

Primer list including primer sequences, annealing temperature, PCR product size and references. (CSV 1 kb)

Supplement data 3

DNA sequence of nine newly characterized genes of the gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata (FAS 11 kb)

Supplement data 4

RT PCR of ppar alpha, beta and gamma using genomic DNA, cDNA of pooled developmental stages, liver and Control. (JPEG 79 kb)

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Fernández, C.G., Roufidou, C., Antonopoulou, E. et al. Expression of Developmental-Stage-Specific Genes in the Gilthead Sea Bream Sparus aurata L.. Mar Biotechnol 15, 313–320 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-012-9486-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-012-9486-8

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