Ancient origin for key hormone system: Sea cucumbers

Date:
June 11, 2020
Source:
eLife
Summary:
A key set of proteins that help regulate hormones necessary for
many essential functions in humans and other vertebrates have
ancient origins in much simpler creatures such as sea cucumbers,
says a new study.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A key set of proteins that help regulate hormones necessary for many
essential functions in humans and other vertebrates have ancient
origins in much simpler creatures such as sea cucumbers, says a new
study published today in eLife.


==========================================================================
The kisspeptin system consists of a group of proteins that help control hormones released by trio of organs: the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland
and the testicles in men or the ovaries in women. This trio regulates reproduction, metabolism, the immune system and other important body
functions. Tracing the evolutionary origins of the kisspeptin proteins
may help scientists learn more about why they developed and how they work.

"The origins of these proteins have previously been traced to very
simple creatures with spinal cords, but it hadn't been traced back
any further," says lead author Tianming Wang, Professor at the Marine
Science and Technology College, Zhejiang Ocean University, China. "This
raises an important question: does the kisspeptin system have an ancient evolutionary origin, or did it first emerge in animals with spinal cords?"
To answer this question, Wang and his colleagues searched for kisspeptin
system genes in the sea cucumber, a very simple sea creature with no
spinal cord. They identified equivalents of the kisspeptin genes in the
sea cucumber.

Next, they found that administering kisspeptin-like cucumber proteins
to mammal cells causes them to release calcium, similar to how human
versions of the protein would behave. The sea cucumber proteins were
also able to interact with receptors in the human cells, suggesting that
little has changed in these proteins over the course of evolution.

Finally, the team carried out a series of experiments where they activated
or blocked this signalling system in sea cucumbers. This showed that these proteins are crucial for reproduction and metabolism in the creatures.

These experiments suggest that the kisspeptin system predates the
evolution of the spinal cord in animals and that it will also be present
in other creatures closely related to the sea cucumber, according to
senior author Naiming Zhou, Professor at the Institute of Biochemistry, Zhejiang University, China.

"Our findings indicate the existence of a kisspeptin signaling system
in a very simple organism lacking a spinal cord," Zhou concludes. "They
provide new evidence to support the ancient evolutionary origin of
the physiological functions in vertebrates that are controlled by the kisspeptin system."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by eLife. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Tianming Wang, Zheng Cao, Zhangfei Shen, Jingwen Yang, Xu Chen, Zhen
Yang, Ke Xu, Xiaowei Xiang, Qiuhan Yu, Yimin Song, Weiwei Wang,
Yanan Tian, Lina Sun, Libin Zhang, Su Guo, Naiming Zhou. Existence
and functions of a kisspeptin neuropeptide signaling system
in a non-chordate deuterostome species. eLife, 2020; 9 DOI:
10.7554/eLife.53370 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200611104804.htm

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