Oocyte maturation is a crucial feature of animal biology and is tightly regulated to optimise reproductive success. However, the nature of the maturation-inducing hormones (MIHs) that trigger this process is unclear and, to date, only a few such MIHs have been identified. Here, Noriyo Takeda and colleagues identify and characterise neuropeptides that act directly as MIHs in jellyfish (dev156786). Using two species of jellyfish, Clytia hemisphaerica and Cladonema pacificum, which are induced to spawn by dark-light and light-dark transitions, respectively, the authors first show that MIH activity is produced by isolated jellyfish gonads in response to light transitions, in particular by gonad ectoderm tissue. Using transcriptomic analyses, the researchers identify short amidated neuropeptides that are expressed preferentially in the gonad ectoderm. They further show that these peptides can induce oocyte maturation, while specific antibodies against them can neutralise native MIH activity. Finally, they show that the peptides are produced by neurosecretory cells in the gonad ectoderm of female and male jellyfish, and can trigger both egg and sperm release, suggesting that they act to coordinate spawning. Together, these findings reveal that amidated neuropeptides act as bona fide MIHs in jellyfish and provide clues into the evolution of neuroendocrine-mediated regulation of reproduction.
Fishing out oocyte maturation-inducing hormones
Fishing out oocyte maturation-inducing hormones. Development 15 January 2018; 145 (2): e0202. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.