Abstract:
To study the role of TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway in zebrafish (
Danio rerio) ovary under different photoperiod conditions, we detected the relative expression of relevant genes in TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway of zebrafish ovary under continuous dark (0 L∶24 D, DD), natural photoperiod (14 L∶10 D, LD) and continuous light (24 L∶0 D, LL) using quantitative real-time PCR. The location of p-Smad2 in zebrafish ovary was detected by immunohistochemical technology. The results show that the expression patterns of genes involved in TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway were different in zebrafish ovary under different photoperiod conditions, and the expression profiles of ligand (
tgfb3), receptor (
tgfbr2
a,
tgfbr2
b and
tgfbr1
b) and downstream protein kinase (
smad2 and
smad3
a) were consistent. The relative expression levels of the above six genes were the highest in DD group and the lowest in LL group after 3-day treatment of different photoperiods, and an opposite trend was observed after 7 d. The p-Smad2 protein signal was detected in the development of zebrafish oocytes from previtellogenic stage (PV) to full-grown immature stage (FG). Photoperiod treatment did not affect the localization of p-Samd2 in zebrafish ovary. The results suggest that change of photoperiod might affect the ovarian development of zebrafish by changing the expression pattern of genes of
tgfb3/receptor/protein kinase.