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Identification of vimentin- and elastin-like transcripts specifically expressed in developing notochord of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

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Abstract

The notochord functions as the midline structural element of all vertebrate embryos, and allows movement and growth at early developmental stages. Moreover, during embryonic development, notochord cells produce secreted factors that provide positional and fate information to a broad variety of cells within adjacent tissues, for instance those of the vertebrae, central nervous system and somites. Due to the large size of the embryo, the salmon notochord is useful to study as a model for exploring notochord development. To investigate factors that might be involved in notochord development, a normalized cDNA library was constructed from a mix of notochords from ∼500 to ∼800 day°. From the 1968 Sanger-sequenced transcripts, 22 genes were identified to be predominantly expressed in the notochord compared to other organs of salmon. Twelve of these genes were found to show expressional regulation around mineralization of the notochord sheath; 11 genes were up-regulated and one gene was down-regulated. Two genes were found to be specifically expressed in the notochord; these genes showed similarity to vimentin (acc. no GT297094) and elastin (acc. no GT297478). In-situ results showed that the vimentin- like transcript was expressed in both chordocytes and chordoblasts, whereas the elastin- like transcript was uniquely expressed in the chordoblasts lining the notochordal sheath. In salmon aquaculture, vertebral deformities are a common problem, and some malformations have been linked to the notochord. The expression of identified transcripts provides further insight into processes taking place in the developing notochord, prior to and during the early mineralization period.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the local fish-farm facilities at Tveitevågen (Marine Harvest AS, Askøy, Norway), Alvøen (Firda Settefisk Alvøen AS, Bergen, Norway), Lønningdal (Ewos Innovation AS, Osøyro, Norway), Lygrepollen (Bolaks AS, Nordtveitgrend, Norway) and Ask (Strømsnes Akvakultur AS, Askøy, Norway) for kindly donating salmon eggs and fry for the research project. We also thank Heidi Kongshaug for expert technical advice and assistance during the construction and production of the normalized notochord cDNA library, and Kjell Toklum, Nina Karin Ellingsen, and Teresa Cieplinska for technical assistance.

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  1. Anita Sagstad

    Present address: Directorate of Fisheries, PB 185 Sentrum, NO-5804, Bergen, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7800, NO-5020, Bergen, Norway

    Anita Sagstad, Sindre Grotmol, Harald Kryvi, Christel Krossøy, Geir K. Totland & Shou Wang

  2. Institute of Marine Research, P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes, NO-5817, Bergen, Norway

    Ketil Malde & Anna Wargelius

  3. Institute of Marine Research, Matre Research Station, NO-5984, Matredal, Norway

    Tom Hansen

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  1. Anita Sagstad
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Correspondence to Anna Wargelius.

Additional information

The study was supported by the Research Council of Norway (Project no 172483).

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Table S1

Primer sequences of the selected 170 genes analyzed by qPCR. The primer sequences that were designed and purchased for the analyses of 170 genes were selected on the basis of BLAST hits and GO annotations, for screening of differential gene expression in notochord compared to other salmon tissues (PDF 18 kb)

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Sagstad, A., Grotmol, S., Kryvi, H. et al. Identification of vimentin- and elastin-like transcripts specifically expressed in developing notochord of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Cell Tissue Res 346, 191–202 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-011-1262-y

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