Dataset Information

Sex-specific growth arrest in a lizard.

ABSTRACT: (1) In contrast to mammals and birds, reptiles have been considered as indeterminate growers, whose growth reflects differential allocation of resources to growth versus other energetically demanding processes such as reproduction. (2) We monitored the growth and activity of bone growth plates, hormonal profiles, and reproductive activity in males and females of the male-larger gecko Paroedura picta. We show that growth plates fuse in this species in a sex-specific manner. The more abrupt epiphyseal closure and more pronounced growth deceleration in females coincide with the increased activity of their reproductive organs. (3) We conclude that at least some lizards are determinate growers whose sexual size dimorphism is potentially driven by ovarian hormones. The major difference in growth between endothermic and ectothermic amniotes appears to be in the magnitude of growth before and after the first reproduction, not in the mechanistic processes such as senescence of growth plate cells.

SUBMITTER: Kubicka L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8957014 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Sex-specific growth arrest in a lizard.

Kubička Lukáš L Tureček Adam A Kučera Tomáš T Kratochvíl Lukáš L

iScience 20220309 4

(1) In contrast to mammals and birds, reptiles have been considered as indeterminate growers, whose growth reflects differential allocation of resources to growth versus other energetically demanding processes such as reproduction. (2) We monitored the growth and activity of bone growth plates, hormonal profiles, and reproductive activity in males and females of the male-larger gecko <i>Paroedura picta</i>. We show that growth plates fuse in this species in a sex-specific manner. The more abrupt ...[more]

PMID: 35345458

Similar Datasets

Project description:Our previous studies suggest that prenatal arsenic exposure (50ppb) modifies epigenetic control of the programming of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling system in the developing mouse brain. These deficits may lead to long-lasting consequences, including deficits in learning and memory, increased depressive-like behaviors, and an altered set-point of GR feedback throughout life. To understand the arsenic-induced changes within the GR system, we assessed the impact of in utero arsenic exposure on the levels of the GR and growth arrest-specific-5 (Gas5), a noncoding RNA, across a key gestational period for GR programming (gestational days, GD 14-18) in mice. Gas5 contains a glucocorticoid response element (GRE)-like sequence that binds the GR, thereby decreasing GR-GRE-dependent gene transcription and potentially altering GR programming. Prenatal arsenic exposure resulted in sex-dependent and age-dependent shifts in the levels of GR and Gas5 expression in fetal telencephalon. Nuclear GR levels were reduced in males, but unchanged in females, at all gestational time points tested. Total cellular Gas5 levels were lower in arsenic-exposed males with no changes seen in arsenic-exposed females at GD16 and 18. An increase in total cellular Gas-5 along with increased nuclear levels in GD14 arsenic-exposed females, suggests a differential regulation of cellular compartmentalization of Gas5. RIP assays revealed reduced Gas5 associated with the GR on GD14 in the nuclear fraction prepared from arsenic-exposed males and females. This decrease in levels of GR-Gas5 binding continued only in the females at GD18. Thus, nuclear GR signaling potential is decreased in prenatal arsenic-exposed males, while it is increased or maintained at levels approaching normal in prenatal arsenic-exposed females. These findings suggest that females, but not males, exposed to arsenic are able to regulate the levels of nuclear free GR by altering Gas5 levels, thereby keeping GR nuclear signaling closer to control (unexposed) levels.

Dataset Information

Sex-specific growth arrest in a lizard.

Publications

Sex-specific growth arrest in a lizard.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets