Open AccessPineal-specific agouti protein regulates teleost background adaptation
Author(s) -
Chao Zhang,
Youngsup Song,
Darren A. Thompson,
Michael A. Madonna,
Glenn L. Millhauser,
Sabrina Toro,
Zoltán Varga,
Monte Westerfield,
Joshua T. Gamse,
Wenbiao Chen,
Roger D. Cone
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.1014941107
Subject(s) - chromatophore , biology , melanin concentrating hormone , melanophore , melanosome , pineal gland , microbiology and biotechnology , mutant , adaptation (eye) , gene , melanocyte stimulating hormone , melatonin , melanin , neuropeptide , endocrinology , hormone , genetics , neuroscience , receptor
Background adaptation is used by teleosts as one of a variety of camouflage mechanisms for avoidance of predation. Background adaptation is known to involve light sensing by the retina and subsequent regulation of melanophore dispersion or contraction in melanocytes, mediated by α-melanocyte–stimulating hormone and melanin-concentrating hormone, respectively. Here, we demonstrate that an agouti gene unique to teleosts,agrp2 , is specifically expressed in the pineal and is required for up-regulation of hypothalamicpmch andpmchl mRNA and melanosome contraction in dermal melanocytes in response to a white background.floating head , a mutant with defective pineal development, exhibits defective up-regulation ofmch mRNAs by white background, whereasnrc , a blind mutant, exhibits a normal response. These studies identify a role for the pineal in background adaptation in teleosts, a unique physiological function for the agouti family of proteins, and define a neuroendocrine axis by which environmental background regulates pigmentation.