CYR61 is a novel gene associated with temperature-dependent changes in fish metabolism as revealed by cDNA microarray analysis on a medaka Oryzias latipes cell line.

A microarray comprising 3,514 cDNAs was constructed from a medaka EST library to elucidate the transcriptional responses associated with temperature shift from 25 to 15 degrees C in a medaka cell line. Microarray analysis revealed that the mRNA levels of 313 clones were significantly different in at least one combination of different incubation periods up to 7 days at a given incubation temperature or between 25 and 15 degrees C at a given incubation period (P < 0.05). These genes are known to be associated with various biological processes including morphogenesis, cell proliferation and response to stress. A number of genes encoding proteins which localize in extracellular areas were apparently up-regulated at 15 degrees C, whereas those localizing in intracellular areas were down-regulated at this temperature. In addition, while a number of genes represented long-term expression changes, only a few responded to short-term inductions. A typical example was CYR61, a multifunctional matricellular signaling modulator, the mRNA levels of which increased after temperature shift from 25 to 15 degrees C in 3 h, and then decreased rapidly to near the original level within 12 h. Another series of analyses by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR revealed that the mRNA levels of CYR61 at 5 degrees C were significantly higher even at 24 h after temperature shift compared to those of the cells successively maintained at 25 degrees C. These analyses suggest that remodeling and reorganizing of extracellular structure of cells are important to offset the low temperature effect and CYR61 is considered to be a novel gene associated with temperature response in poikilotherms.