Identification of a Novel Uromodulin-Like Gene Related to Predator-Induced Bulgy Morph in Anuran Tadpoles by Functional Microarray Analysis

Abstract

Tadpoles of the anuran species Rana pirica can undergo predator-specific morphological responses. Exposure to a predation threat by larvae of the salamander Hynobius retardatus results in formation of a bulgy body (bulgy morph) with a higher tail. The tadpoles revert to a normal phenotype upon removal of the larval salamander threat. Although predator-induced phenotypic plasticity is of major interest to evolutionary ecologists, the molecular and physiological mechanisms that control this response have yet to be elucidated. In a previous study, we identified various genes that are expressed in the skin of the bulgy morph. However, it proved difficult to determine which of these were key genes in the control of gene expression associated with the bulgy phenotype. Here, we show that a novel gene plays an important role in the phenotypic plasticity producing the bulgy morph. A functional microarray analysis using facial tissue samples of control and bulgy morph tadpoles identified candidate functional genes for predator-specific morphological responses. A larger functional microarray was prepared than in the previous study and used to analyze mRNAs extracted from facial and brain tissues of tadpoles from induction-reversion experiments. We found that a novel uromodulin-like gene, which we name here pirica, was up-regulated and that keratin genes were down-regulated as the period of exposure to larval salamanders increased. Pirica consists of a 1296 bp open reading frame, which is putatively translated into a protein of 432 amino acids. The protein contains a zona pellucida domain similar to that of proteins that function to control water permeability. We found that the gene was expressed in the superficial epidermis of the tadpole skin.

A structured interdomain linker directs self-polymerization of human uromodulin

“…S3) as well as additional ZP module proteins, including ZPD (26,27) (Fig. S3), olfactorin (28), pirica (29), larval glycoprotein (30), and SPP120 (31). Surprisingly, our crystallographic data reveal that UMOD ZP-C (Figs.…”

Brain Transcriptomic Response of Threespine Sticklebacks to Cues of a Predator

“…Most studies have measured gene expression within minutes after a single exposure to predation risk [Wang et al, 2003;Nanda et al, 2008;Leder et al, 2009;Mori et al, 2009]. However, animals are often recurrently exposed to cues of predators, and other studies suggest that the response of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis to acute versus chronic stress is different [McEwen, 2007].…”

Evolutionary ecology of inducible morphological plasticity in predator–prey interaction: toward the practical links with population ecology

“…This approach has been instrumental in documenting the taxonomic prevalence of inducible defenses (Torllian and Harvell 1999;DeWitt and Scheiner 2004) and has shed considerable light on the adaptive value of trait plasticity (Lively 1986a,b;Kopp and Tollrian 2003a;Kishida and Nishimura 2005;Benard 2006). These insights have been further enhanced by studies of the role of inducible defenses in driving the evolution of geographic variation in prey phenotypes (Lively et al 2000;Trussell 2000a,b;Trussell and Smith 2000;Relyea 2002a;Trussell and Nicklin 2002;Laurila et al 2006;Kishida et al 2007) and the genetic basis of morphological plasticity via quantitative genetic (Relyea 2005a) and molecular genetic (Mori et al 2005(Mori et al , 2009) approaches. For example, Rana pirica frog tadpoles of the populations in the predator-common mainland have higher expression ability of defensive morph when exposed to predation risk from the salamander larvae (Hynobius retardatus) than those of a predator-free island population ).…”