The study of Hox clusters and genes provides insights into the evolution of genomic regulation of development. Derived ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii, Teleostei) such as zebrafish and pufferfish possess duplicated Hox clusters that have undergone considerable sequence evolution. Whether these changes are associated with the duplication(s) that produced extra Hox clusters is unresolved because comparison with basal lineages is unavailable. We sequenced and analyzed the HoxA cluster of the bichir (Polypterus senegalus), a phylogenetically basal actinopterygian. Independent lines of evidence indicate that bichir has one HoxA cluster that is mosaic in its patterns of noncoding sequence conservation and gene retention relative to the HoxA clusters of human and shark, and the HoxA␣ and HoxA␤ clusters of zebrafish, pufferfish, and striped bass. HoxA cluster noncoding sequences conserved between bichir and euteleosts indicate that novel cis-sequences were acquired in the stem actinopterygians and maintained after cluster duplication. Hence, in the earliest actinopterygians, evolution of the single HoxA cluster was already more dynamic than in human and shark. This tendency peaked among teleosts after HoxA cluster duplication.

Somatolactin (SL) is a pituitary hormone belonging to the growth hormone/prolactin superfamily, with recognizable homologues in all fish taxa examined to date. Although sequences from most fish share reasonably high sequence identity, several more highly divergent SLs have been reported. Goldfish SL and a second SL protein found in rainbow trout (rtSLP) are remarkably different from each other and also dissimilar to other SLs. It has been unclear whether rtSLP is a recent paralogue restricted to rainbow trout, or reflects a more ancient duplication of the SL gene, and whether it is related to the goldfish sequence. Here we report the cloning of two different zebrafish SL cDNAs, which share only 57·5% nucleotide and 47·7% deduced amino acid identities. One copy, designated zebrafish SL (zfSL ), displays a typical range of sequence similarity to most other SLs. The other copy, zebrafish SL (zfSL ), shows low identity to most other SLs; surprisingly, it is most similar to the divergent SL sequence from goldfish. The mRNAs of zfSL and zfSL were expressed specifically in two distinct regions of the pars intermedia in zebrafish. Cells expressing zfSL are located at the posterior pars intermedia, bordering the neurohypophysis, whereas zfSL is expressed in the anterior part of the pars intermedia, bordering the pars distalis. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that zfSL , goldfish SL and rtSLP all belong to the SL hormone family; however, along with the genes from eel and catfish, these divergent sequences form a group that is clearly distinct from all other SLs. These results suggest the presence of two distinct SL families, SL and SL , which may trace back to a teleost genome duplication prior to divergence of the cyprinids and salmonids.

Somatostatin has been demonstrated to negatively regulate pancreatic growth in vivo. In this study we used the AR4-2J rat pancreatic acinar tumor cell line to investigate the effect of a stable somatostatin analog, SMS 201-995 (SMS) on cell proliferation. SMS induced an antiproliferative effect on both serum or epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced cell proliferation; exposure of the cells for 48 h to SMS caused a slight inhibition of serum-induced proliferation (maximal inhibition, 26%) and abolished the growth-promoting effect of EGF. Maximal effect was observed with 10 nM SMS, and half-maximal (IC50) effect with 0.06-0.1 nM SMS. Binding studies with an iodinated derivative of SMS, [125I-Tyr3]SMS, revealed the presence of a single class of high affinity binding sites on AR4-2J plasma membranes with an equilibrium dissociation constant of 0.2 +/- 0.03 nM and a binding site number of 1.1 +/- 0.07 pmol/mg protein. Addition of the nonhydrolyzable GTP analog, guanosine 5-[gamma-thio] triphosphate (GTP gamma S), increased the rate of dissociation of the specifically bound peptide in agreement with the coupling of somatostatin receptors with a GTP-binding regulatory protein. The good agreement between the IC50 for SMS inhibition of cell proliferation and the apparent Kd for binding indicates that the characterized binding sites are the somatostatin receptors that mediate the antiproliferative effect of SMS. When cells were grown in serum-free medium EGF stimulated AR4-2J cell proliferation with half-maximal (ED50) and maximal effects at 0.6 and 10 nM EGF, respectively. This stimulatory effect of EGF was mediated by specific receptors, since binding studies with [125I]EGF indicated that AR4-2J cells contained a single class of EGF receptors (13,000 sites/cell), with an affinity constant for [125I]EGF (Kd = 0.9 +/- 0.09 nM) close to the ED50 for EGF stimulation of cell growth. To examine if SMS-induced growth inhibition involved a cAMP-dependent mechanism we first studied the effect of SMS on cAMP production. SMS had no effect on basal cAMP, but completely inhibited VIP-stimulated cAMP production with an IC50 of 0.2 nM. Pertussis toxin, which is known to abolish the inhibitory effect of somatostatin on adenylate cyclase activity in AR4-2J cells, did not reverse the ability of SMS to inhibit cell proliferation as well as EGF-induced cell proliferation. These data indicate that the antiproliferative effect of SMS does not involve the GTP-binding protein-mediated negative coupling of somatostatin receptors to adenylate cyclase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

The hindbrain and pharyngeal arch-derived structures of vertebrates are determined, at least in part, by Hox paralog group 2 genes. In sarcopterygians, the Hoxa2 gene alone appears to specify structures derived from the second pharyngeal arch (PA2), while in zebrafish (Danio rerio), either of the two Hox PG2 genes, hoxa2b or hoxb2a, can specify PA2-derived structures. We previously reported three Hox PG2 genes in striped bass (Morone saxatilis), including hoxa2a, hoxa2b, and hoxb2a and observed that only HoxA cluster genes are expressed in PA2, indicative that they function alone or together to specify PA2. In this paper, we present the cloning and expression analysis of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Hox PG2 genes and show that all three genes are expressed in the hindbrain and in PA2. The expression of hoxb2a in PA2 was unexpected given the close phylogenetic relationship of Nile tilapia and striped bass, both of which are members of the order Perciformes. A reanalysis of striped bass hoxb2a expression demonstrated that it is expressed in PA2 with nearly the same temporal and spatial expression pattern as its Nile tilapia ortholog. Further, we determined that Nile tilapia and striped bass hoxa2a orthologs are expressed in PA2 well beyond the onset of chondrogenesis whereas neither hoxa2b nor hoxb2a expression persist until this stage, which, according to previous hypotheses, suggests that hoxa2a orthologs in these two species function alone as selector genes of PA2 identity.

We investigated the role of the cAMP link to the signal transduction mechanism coupled with adenosine A(2A) and A(2B) receptors in cultured human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAEC) and porcine coronary artery endothelial cells (PCAEC). 2-[4-[2-¿2-[(4-aminophenyl)methylcarbonylamino]ethylaminocarbon yl¿eth yl]phenyl]ethylamino-5'- ethylcarboxamidoadenosine ((125)I-PAPA-APEC) (PAPA-APEC) was used to demonstrate the specific binding in PCAEC membranes. The specific binding was saturable and reversible with a maximal number of binding sites (B(max)) of 240 fmol/mg protein, and scatchard analysis revealed a single class of binding site with an equilibrium dissociation constant (K(d)) of 1. 17 +/- 0.035 nM. In competition experiments, adenosine receptor agonists showed the following order of potency (based on IC(50)): 5'-(N-ethylcarboxamido)adenosine (NECA) >/= CGS-21680 > 2-chloroadenosine. This order appears to be consistent with the A(2) adenosine receptor classification. We also studied the effects of adenosine agonists on the accumulation of cAMP as an indirect approach to show the presence of functional A(2) receptors. Similarly, the same adenosine agonists (10(-7)-10(-4) M) elicited the production of cAMP in intact endothelial cells in a dose-dependent manner, exhibiting consistently with the A(2) adenosine receptor classification. A selective A(2A) adenosine receptor antagonist (ZM-241385, 10(-8) M) significantly inhibited the effect of CGS-21680 on cAMP but only partly inhibited the effect of NECA, suggesting the presence of both A(2A) and A(2B) receptors. Western blot analysis further showed the immunoreactivity of A(2A) and A(2B) receptor at 45 and 36 kDa, respectively, in both HCAEC and PCAEC. Direct evidence for the presence of A(2A) and A(2B) receptors in cultured HCAEC and PCAEC by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), revealed expected PCR product sizes (205 and 173 bp) for A(2A) and A(2B) receptors in HCAEC and PCAEC, respectively. The data show that adenylate cyclase-coupled adenosine A(2A) and A(2B) receptors are present in coronary endothelial cells.