CRHR1 mediates the transcriptional expression of pituitary hormones and their receptors under hypoxia.

Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays critical roles in stress responses under challenging conditions such as hypoxia, regulating gene expression and integrating activities of hypothalamus-pituitary-targets cells. However, the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms and signaling pathways of hypoxic stress in the pituitary remain to be defined. Here, we report that hypoxia induced dynamic changes in the transcription factors, hormones, and their receptors in the adult rat pituitary.

Identification of α1-antitrypsin as a positive acute phase protein in ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) associated with Listonella anguillarum infection.

α1-Antitrypsin (AAT) is implicated in the regulation of a variety of mammalian immune responses and was recently identified as a major serpin in blood plasma of some fish. However, AAT expression following bacterial infection in fish has not been well described. In this study, we cloned the full-length ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) AAT gene cDNA.

Use of suppressive subtractive hybridization to identify differentially expressed genes in ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) associated with Listonella anguillarum infection.

Suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) was employed to identify differentially expressed genes in ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) associated with Listonella anguillarum infection. 800 random clones were selected from forward and reverse subtractive libraries and 787 were successfully sequenced. After assembling, 105 contigs and 414 singletons were finally obtained, some of which were immune-related genes.

Proteomic analysis on the alteration of protein expression in gills of ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) associated with salinity change.

Gill is the primary osmoregulatory organ for euryhaline fish to acclimate salinity change. The effect of salinity on gill proteome in ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis, was investigated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS/MS). Eight of eighteen altered proteins were successfully identified.

An interaction between a C-type lectin receptor and leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin 2 of ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis.

Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screens were used to test for interactions between leukocyte cell-derived chemotaxin 2 (LECT2) and a liver cDNA expression library of ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis. Of the 9 independent interacting clones identified, 2 were identical and closely related to C-type lectin receptor (CLR) genes of fish, while the other 7 were partial sequences from transferrin genes. Ayu CLR (aCLR) showed similarity to immune-relevant mammalian receptors in terms of amino acid sequence and overall organization within the C-type lectin-like domain (CTLD).