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XB-ART-53576
Endocrinology 2017 Jun 01;1586:1985-1998. doi: 10.1210/en.2016-1953.
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Thyroid Hormone Receptor α Controls Developmental Timing and Regulates the Rate and Coordination of Tissue-Specific Metamorphosis in Xenopus tropicalis.

Wen L , Shibata Y , Su D , Fu L , Luu N , Shi YB .


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Thyroid hormone (T3) receptors (TRs) mediate the effects of T3 on organ metabolism and animal development. There are two TR genes, TRα and TRβ, in all vertebrates. During animal development, TRα expression is activated earlier than zygotic T3 synthesis and secretion into the plasma, implicating a developmental role of TRα both in the presence and absence of T3. Using T3-dependent amphibian metamorphosis as a model, we previously proposed a dual-function model for TRs, in particular TRα, during development. That is, unliganded TR represses the expression of T3-inducible genes during premetamorphosis to ensure proper animal growth and prevent premature metamorphosis, whereas during metamorphosis, liganded TR activates target gene transcription to promote the transformation of the tadpole into a frog. To determine if TRα has such a dual function, we generated homozygous TRα-knockout animal lines. We show that, indeed, TRα knockout affects both premetamorphic animal development and metamorphosis. Surprisingly, we observed that TRα is not essential for amphibian metamorphosis, given that homozygous knockout animals complete metamorphosis within a similar time period after fertilization as their wild-type siblings. On the other hand, the timing of metamorphosis for different organs is altered by the knockout; limb metamorphosis occurs earlier, whereas intestinal metamorphosis is completed later than in wild-type siblings. Thus, our studies have demonstrated a critical role of endogenous TRα, not only in regulating both the timing and rate of metamorphosis, but also in coordinating temporal metamorphosis of different organs.

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Species referenced: Xenopus tropicalis
Genes referenced: gh1 gh2 klf9 mmp11 slc22a18 tbx4 tbx5 tecta.2 thibz thra thrb
GO keywords: thyroid hormone mediated signaling pathway [+]
Lines/Strains:

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References [+] :
Amaya, Frog genetics: Xenopus tropicalis jumps into the future. 1998, Pubmed, Xenbase