@article{PAR00011067,
  title = {{T}he pituitary gland of the {E}uropean eel reveals massive expression of genes involved in the elanocortin system},
  author = {{A}ger-{W}ick, {E}. and {D}irks, {R}. {P}. and {B}urgerhout, {E}. and {N}ourizadeh-{L}illabadi, {R}. and de {W}ijze, {D}. {L}. and {S}paink, {H}. {P}. and van den {T}hillart, {G}. {E}. {E}. {J}. {M}. and {T}sukamoto, {K}. and {D}ufour, {S}ylvie and {W}eltzien, {F}. {A}. and {H}enkel, {C}. {V}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{H}ormones secreted from the pituitary gland regulate important processes such as development, growth and metabolism, reproduction, water balance, and body pigmentation. {S}ynthesis and secretion of pituitary hormones are regulated by different factors from the hypothalamus, but also through feedback mechanisms from peripheral organs, and from the pituitary itself. {I}n the {E}uropean eel extensive attention has been directed towards understanding the different components of the brain-pituitary-gonad axis, but little is known about the regulation of upstream processes in the pituitary gland. {I}n order to gain a broader mechanistic understanding of the eel pituitary gland, we have performed {RNA}-seq transcriptome profiling of the pituitary of prepubertal female silver eels. {RNA}-seq reads generated on the {I}llumina platform were mapped to the recently assembled {E}uropean eel genome. {T}he most abundant transcript in the eel pituitary codes for pro-opiomelanocortin, the precursor for hormones of the melanocortin system. {S}everal genes putatively involved in downstream processing of pro-opiomelanocortin were manually annotated, and were found to be highly expressed, both by {RNA}-seq and by q{PCR}. {T}he melanocortin system, which affects skin color, energy homeostasis and in other teleosts interacts with the reproductive system, has so far received limited attention in eels. {H}owever, since up to one third of the silver eel pituitary's m{RNA} pool encodes pro-opiomelanocortin, our results indicate that control of the melanocortin system is a major function of the eel pituitary.},
  keywords = {},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{P}los {O}ne},
  volume = {8},
  numero = {10},
  pages = {e77396},
  ISSN = {1932-6203},
  year = {2013},
  DOI = {10.1371/journal.pone.0077396},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/{PAR}00011067},
}