Abundance of specific mRNA transcripts impacts hatching success in European eel, Anguilla anguilla L.

Maternal mRNA governs early embryonic development in fish and variation in abundance of maternal transcripts may contribute to variation in embryonic survival and hatch success in European eel, Anguilla anguilla. Previous studies have shown that quantities of the maternal gene products β-tubulin, insulin-like growth factor 2 (igf2), nucleoplasmin (npm2), prohibitin 2 (phb2), phosphatidylinositol glycan biosynthesis class F protein 5 (pigf5), and carnitine O-palmitoyltransferase liver isoform-like 1 (cpt1) are associated with embryonic developmental competence in other teleosts. Here, the relations between relative mRNA abundance of these genes in eggs and/or embryos and egg quality, was studied and analyzed. We compared egg quality of the two groups: i) batches with hatching and ii) batches with no hatching. Results showed no significant differences in relative mRNA abundance between the hatch and no hatching groups for any of the selected genes at 0, 2.5, and 5HPF. However, at 30HPF the hatch group showed significantly higher abundance of cpt1a, cpt1b, β-tubulin, phb2, and pigf5 transcripts than the no hatch group. Therefore, these results indicate that up-regulation of the transcription of these genes in European eel after the mid-blastula transition, may be needed to sustain embryonic development and hatching success.