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Functional Characterization of Melanocortin-3 Receptor in a Hibernating Cavefish Onychostoma macrolepis

Authors :
Lian Wu
Huixia Yu
Haolin Mo
Xianyong Lan
Chuanying Pan
Lixin Wang
Haiyu Zhao
Jishu Zhou
Yang Li
Source :
Animals, Vol 12, Iss 1, p 38 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

Melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) plays an important role in the energy homeostasis of animals under different nutritional conditions. Onychostoma macrolepis is a hibernating cavefish found in the northern part of the Yangtze River, and its adaptation to a nutrient-poor environment has attracted growing interest. In this study, we characterized the protein structure of Onychostoma macrolepis Mc3r (omMc3r), examined its tissue distribution, and investigated its function in mediating cellular signaling. We showed that the CDS of omMc3r is 978 bp, encoding a putative protein of 325 amino acids. Homology and phylogenetic analyses indicated that omMc3r is evolutionary close to cyprinids. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) revealed that omMc3r was highly expressed in the liver and brain. The functions of omMc3r to mediate ligands activating downstream signaling have also been confirmed by using signal pathway-specific reporters. The four agonists α-MSH, β-MSH, NDP-MSH, and ACTH (1–24) can all activate the cAMP and MAPK/ERK signaling pathway, albeit with different potency orders. The “primitive” ligand ACTH (1–24) had the highest potency on the cAMP signaling pathway, while the synthetic ligand NDP-MSH had the highest activation effect on the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. This research will lay the foundation for studying the energy regulation mechanism of cavefish in an oligotrophic environment.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20762615
Volume :
12
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Animals
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.6e66d800c84a4a21ac906b1af90122a3
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12010038