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Gene expression survey of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP1/UCP3) in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.)

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Abstract

The aim of this work is to underline the biological significance of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCPs) in ectothermic fish using the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.) as an experimental model. A contig of 1,990 bp in length was recognized as a UCP1 ortholog after initial searches in the gilthead sea bream AQUAFIRST database (http://www.sigenae.org/aquafirst). Additional searches were performed in skeletal muscle by RT-PCR, and the amplified PCR product was recognized as UCP3 after sequence completion by 5′- and 3′RACE. UCP1 expression was mostly detected in liver, whereas UCP3 transcripts were only found in skeletal and cardiac muscle fibres (white skeletal muscle > red skeletal muscle > heart). Specific gene regulation of UCP1 (liver) and UCP3 (white skeletal muscle) was addressed in physiological models of age, seasonal growth and energy-metabolic unbalances. Both the increase in energy demand (stress confinement) and the reduction in energy supply during adaptive cold response in winter down-regulated UCP1 expression. Conversely, transcript levels of UCP3 were higher with age, seasonal fattening and dietary deficiencies in essential fatty acids leading to the increase in fatty acid flux towards the muscle. This close association between UCP1 and UCP3 with the oxidative and metabolic tissue status is perhaps directly related to the ancestral protein UCP function, and allows the use of UCPs as lipotoxicity markers in ectothermic fish.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to E. Rial and anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions and revision of the manuscript and M.A. González for excellent technical assistance in PCR assays. This work was partially funded by the European Union (FOOD-CT-2006-16249: Sustainable Aquafeeds to Maximise the Health Benefits of Farmed Fish for Consumers, AQUAMAX) and Spanish (Ingenio-2010 Programme; Improvement of Aquaculture Production by the use of biotechnological tools, AQUAGENOMICS) projects. AB-N was recipient of a PhD fellowship from CSIC-BANCAJA.

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  1. Fish Nutrition and Growth Endocrinology Group, Department of Biology, Culture and Pathology of Marine Fish Species, Institute of Aquaculture Torre de la Sal (IATS), CSIC, 12595, Ribera de Cabanes, Castellón, Spain

    Azucena Bermejo-Nogales, Josep Alvar Calduch-Giner & Jaume Pérez-Sánchez

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  1. Azucena Bermejo-Nogales
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  2. Josep Alvar Calduch-Giner
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Correspondence to Jaume Pérez-Sánchez.

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Communicated by G. Heldmaier.

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Bermejo-Nogales, A., Calduch-Giner, J.A. & Pérez-Sánchez, J. Gene expression survey of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP1/UCP3) in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.). J Comp Physiol B 180, 685–694 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-009-0441-6

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