Apoptosis and autophagy-related gene transcription during ovarian follicular atresia in European hake (Merluccius merluccius).

Follicular atresia is an energy-saving oocyte resorption process that can allow the survival of female fish when environmental conditions are unfavourable and at the expense of fecundity. This study investigated the transcription levels of apoptosis and autophagy-related genes during atresia in the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Nzioka, Anthony, Valencia López, Ainara, Atxaerandio Landa, Aitor, Diaz de Cerio Arruabarrena, Oihane, Hossain, Mohammad Amzad, Korta, María, Ortiz Zarragoitia, Maren, Cancio Uriarte, Ibon
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/58887
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/58887
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:apoptosis
autophagy
biomarker
European hake
fisheries
follicular atresia
reproductive cyclem
RNA
Descripción
Sumario:Follicular atresia is an energy-saving oocyte resorption process that can allow the survival of female fish when environmental conditions are unfavourable and at the expense of fecundity. This study investigated the transcription levels of apoptosis and autophagy-related genes during atresia in the European hake that can show episodes of increased follicular atresia throughout the reproductive cycle. 169 female individuals were collected from the Bay of Biscay, and the ovaries were analysed using histological and molecular methods. Different levels of atresia were histologically detected in 73.7% of the ovaries analysed and the TUNEL assay identified apoptotic nuclei in follicles from both previtellogenic and vitellogenic stages. Transcripts of beclin-1 and ptenb were up-regulated in the ovaries containing atretic follicles, whereas p53, caspase-3, cathepsin D and dapk1 were up-regulated only in ovaries presenting vitellogenic atretic follicles. Our results indicate different implications of apoptotic vs autophagic processes leading to atresia during oocyte development, vitellogenesis being the moment of maximal apoptotic and autophagic activity in atretic hakes. The analysed genes could provide early warning biomarkers to identify follicular atresia in fish and evaluate fecundity in fish stocks.