Zhao Liyuan, Wang Likun, Aierken Reyilamu, Wang Wei, Wang Xianyan, Li Mingyu
Laboratory of Marine Biology and Ecology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, China.
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Innovative Drug Target Research, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2020 Mar 31;11:174. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.00174. eCollection 2020.
Insulin and glucagon are hormones secreted by pancreatic β and α cells, respectively, which together regulate glucose homeostasis. Dysregulation of insulin or glucagon can result in loss of blood glucose control, characterized by hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. To better understand the endocrine physiology of cetaceans, we cloned and characterized the and genes from pygmy sperm whale (. We obtained the complete coding sequences of the and genes, which encodes the preproinsulin protein of 110 amino acid (aa) residues and encodes the preproglucagon protein of 179 aa residues, respectively. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that protein structures were similar to other mammalian orthologs. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining using insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin antibodies allowed analysis of pygmy sperm whale islet distribution, architecture, and composition. Our results showed the pygmy sperm whale islet was irregularly shaped and randomly distributed throughout the pancreas. The architecture of α, β, and δ cells of the pygmy sperm whale was similar to that of artiodactyls species. This is the first report about and genes in cetaceans, which provides new information about the structural conservation of the insulin and glucagon genes. Furthermore, offers novel information on the properties of endocrine cells in cetacean for further studies.
胰岛素和胰高血糖素分别是由胰腺β细胞和α细胞分泌的激素，它们共同调节葡萄糖稳态。胰岛素或胰高血糖素的失调会导致血糖控制丧失，表现为高血糖或低血糖。为了更好地理解鲸类动物的内分泌生理学，我们克隆并鉴定了侏儒抹香鲸（Kogia breviceps）的胰岛素和胰高血糖素基因。我们获得了胰岛素和胰高血糖素基因的完整编码序列，它们分别编码由110个氨基酸（aa）残基组成的胰岛素原蛋白和由179个aa残基组成的胰高血糖素原蛋白。序列比较和系统发育分析表明，这些蛋白质结构与其他哺乳动物的直系同源物相似。使用胰岛素、胰高血糖素和生长抑素抗体进行免疫组织化学和免疫荧光染色，能够分析侏儒抹香鲸胰岛的分布、结构和组成。我们的结果显示，侏儒抹香鲸的胰岛形状不规则，随机分布于整个胰腺。侏儒抹香鲸α、β和δ细胞的结构与偶蹄目动物相似。这是关于鲸类动物胰岛素和胰高血糖素基因的首次报道，为胰岛素和胰高血糖素基因的结构保守性提供了新信息。此外，为进一步研究提供了关于鲸类动物内分泌细胞特性的新信息。
