Gene expression analyses of GH/IGF axis in triploid crucian carp with growth heterosis

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Mar 26:15:1373623. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1373623. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Hybridization and polyploid breeding are the main approaches used to obtain new aquaculture varieties. Allotriploid crucian carp (3n) with rapid growth performance was generated by mating red crucian carp (RCC) with allotetraploids (4n). Fish growth is controlled by the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis. In the present study, we examined the expression characteristics of GH/IGF axis genes in hybrids F1, 4n, 3n, RCC and common carp (CC). The results showed that GHRa, GHRb, IGF1, IGF2, and IGF-1Ra were highly expressed in 3n compared with RCC and CC, whereas IGF3 was undetectable in the liver in RCC, CC and 3n. GHRa and GHRb had low expression in the 4n group. In hybrid F1, GHRa expression was low, whereas GHRb was highly expressed compared to the levels in RCC and CC. Moreover, in hybrid F1, the expression of IGF3 was higher, and the expression of IGF1 and IGF2 was lower than that in the RCC and CC, whereas the expression of IGF-1Ra was similar to that in RCC and CC. For the IGFBP genes, IGFBP1 had higher expression in 3n compared than that in RCC and CC, while other IGFBP genes were not high expressed in 3n. Among the genes detected in this study, 11 genes were nonadditively expressed in 3n, with 5 genes in the transgressive upregulation model. We proposed that the 11 nonadditive expression of GH/IGF axis genes is related to growth heterosis in 3n. This evidence provides new insights into hybridization and polyploid breeding from the perspective of hormone regulation.

Keywords: growth; hybridization; nonadditive expression; polyploid breeding; triploid.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carcinoma, Renal Cell*
  • Carps* / genetics
  • Carps* / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Growth Hormone / genetics
  • Growth Hormone / metabolism
  • Human Growth Hormone* / metabolism
  • Hybrid Vigor / genetics
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins
  • Insulin-Like Peptides
  • Kidney Neoplasms*
  • Triploidy

Substances

  • Growth Hormone
  • Insulin-Like Peptides
  • Human Growth Hormone
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32293254, 32293252), the Youth Science and Technology Talents Lifting Project of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2023TJ-Z21), the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2021JJ20033 and 2022JJ30386), the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-45), 111 Project (D20007) and the Hunan Normal University undergraduates innovative experiment project and entrepreneurship program (2022269).