Flatfish exhibit a pronounced countershading and are an excellent model to study the establishment of the dorsoventral pigment pattern. These fish species undergo a metamorphosis from symmetrical free-swimming larva to asymmetrical bottom-dwelling showing both eyes on the same side. Ocular side becomes dark pigmented whereas the blind side exhibit a pale color. This pigment asymmetry appears in adult stage and is hypothesized to depend upon the asymmetry of organizational environments that potentially regulate latent chromatophore precursor survival, proliferation and differentiation. Such regulatory asymmetry may be due to differences in the expression and distribution of secretory proteins involved in the precursor differentiation into mature chromatophore. Experimental data in fish support that this dorso-ventral pigment pattern is achieved because a putative diffusible melanization inhibition factor (MIF), locally produced by cells in the ventral skin, inhibits melanoblast differentiation and stimulates iridophore proliferation in the ventrum. Our previous studies support agouti-signaling protein (ASIP) like the fish MIF. In this work, we cloned both turbot and sole ASIP and analyzed developmental and tissue expression patterns. We demonstrated that injection of capped ASIP mRNA in the dorsal skin inhibits melanogenesis inducing pigment asymmetries. Accordingly, pseudoalbino turbots exhibit higher ASIP mRNA levels within the pale areas but not in the dark pigmented areas

8º Congreso de la Asociación Ibérica de Endocrinología Comparada = 8º Congresso da Associação Ibérica de Endocrinologia Comparada, Madrid, 5-7 de septiembre de 2011

Funded by Incite 09 402 193 PR

Peer reviewed