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Salinity changes in the anadromous river pufferfish, Takifugu obscurus, mediate gene regulation

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Abstract

This study aimed to better understand the hydromineral regulatory response of the anadromous river pufferfish, Takifugu obscurus, to salinity changes through real-time RT-PCR. After abrupt transfer from 30 or 5 psu to 5 or 30 psu, respectively, we analyzed the mRNA expression of Na+/K+ ATPase, prolactin receptor, and aquaporin from osmoregulatory organs of the river pufferfish such as gills, kidney, and intestine. Na+/K+ ATPase showed notable changes in the gills and kidney when salinity was increased. In the gills, the expression level of Na+/K+ ATPase suddenly increased within a day after abrupt transfer from 5 to 30 psu and then slightly declined within 2 days after exposure. In the kidney, Na+/K+ ATPase has shown consistently high mRNA expression after the increase in salinity. Expression levels of the prolactin receptor gene increased when environmental salinity decreased. In the intestine, gene expression of the prolactin receptor remained high, even when salinity decreased. To the contrary, there was a steady increase or decrease in mRNA expression in the kidney in response to salinity decrease or increase, respectively. As for aquaporins, aquaporin 1 was mainly expressed in the intestine and kidney, and aquaporin 3 was mainly expressed in the gills and intestine. In the gills, increased expression of aquaporin 3 was found after transfer to lower salinity and in the intestine and kidney, a decrease in salinity followed by an abrupt decrease in aquaporin 1 and aquaporin 3. Contrastingly, the expression of these genes increased in the intestine after transfer to 30 psu. Osmoregulatory genes were expressed in diverse organs, apparently to overcome an influx or exhaust of water or ions. A superior adaptation ability of the river pufferfish to a wide range of salinities is most reasonably due to active osmoregulatory processes mediated by the genes monitored here.

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Acknowledgments

This research was a part of the project titled “Development of Korea Operational Oceanographic System (KOOS)” and “Long-term change of structure and function in marine ecosystems of Korea” funded by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM), Korea. This work was supported by the Inha grant program (2011).

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  1. Su-Young Jeong

    Present address: Korea Institute of Coastal Ecology, Inc., Incheon, 402-835, South Korea

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, 402-751, South Korea

    Su-Young Jeong & Kyung-Nam Han

  2. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 4160 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, BC, V7V 1N6, Canada

    Jin-Hyoung Kim

  3. Inland Fisheries Research Institute, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Gyeonggi-do 114-3, Busan, South Korea

    Wan-Ok Lee

  4. Green Life Science Department, College of Convergence, Sangmyung University, Seoul, South Korea

    Hans-Uwe Dahms

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  1. Su-Young Jeong
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Correspondence to Hans-Uwe Dahms.

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Su-Young Jeong and Jin-Hyoung Kim have equally contributed to this article.

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Jeong, SY., Kim, JH., Lee, WO. et al. Salinity changes in the anadromous river pufferfish, Takifugu obscurus, mediate gene regulation. Fish Physiol Biochem 40, 205–219 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-013-9837-z

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