Molecular mechanisms of intercellular communication in the hormonal and neural systems

This paper reviews our studies that have addressed the molecular mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis and reception of extracellular signaling molecules and integrative mechanisms of extracellular-intracellular signaling transmission in biological systems. We introduced recombinant DNA technology into the neuroendocrine system and established the concept that a single peptide precursor encompasses multiple biologically active peptides and brings about coordinate functions in various biological systems. We then developed a novel functional cloning of membrane receptors and ion channels by combining an oocyte expression system with electrophysiology. We molecularly elucidated not only various peptide receptors, including the first demonstration of the molecular entity of a G protein-coupled peptide receptor (GPCR), substance K receptor, and also diverse members of both G protein-coupled metabotropic type and NMDA type of neurotransmitter glutamate receptors. We demonstrated many novel synaptic mechanisms involving distinct types of glutamate receptors in brain function and dysfunction. These include the mechanisms underlying segregation of light-dark signals in visual transmission, discrimination and memory formation in olfactory transmission, and motor co-ordination in the cerebellum, basal ganglia and the retinal network.     

Multiple cues in mate selection: The sexual interference hypothesis

Animals use multiple cues when choosing mates, but it is not yet clear why a single signal would not suffice. In this paper, drawing support from predation and “noise” effects on mate choice, marketing economics, and multiple signals models, a new hypothesis explaining multiple sexual signals is proposed: the sexual interference hypothesis. The hypothesis is based on three well-supported premises: (1) selectivity decreases when mate assessment costs increase, (2) assessment costs increase when the propagation or reception of sexual signals is more difficult, and (3) males not only exploit such circumstances by courting females when choice is more difficult, but actively interfere with females' preferences by making choice more difficult. The hypothesis argues that additional sexual signals evolve as a way for males to hinder female mate choice by interfering with the propagation and reception of other males' sexual signals. Females respond by evolving the ability to glean meaningful information from signals despite males' attempts at obfuscation. In turn, males respond by producing better interference signals and signals that are not so easily blocked. This co-evolutionary process increases the costs of assessment for females and the costs of signal production for males, and leads to a temporary equilibrium of honest advertising via multiple signals.     

A Special Constraint on the Evolution of Composite Signals

Many animals use composite signals, combining e. g. auditory and visual components. If the components travel at different speeds, the time lag between reception of the components increases with increasing distance from the sender. Problems arising especially from rhythmical repetition of composite signals are discussed and possible solutions are indicated.     

Functional development of chemosensory systems in the fish ontogeny

Regularities of the functional development of chemosensory systems in the ontogeny of fish has been studied, i.e., the olfactory system, the taste system, and the common chemical sense. The olfactory system begins to function and provides response of juveniles to chemical signals before the taste system. Embryos that have hatched from eggs but that do not yet take food exhibit nonspecialized motor responses to olfactory stimuli already. Immediately after the transition to exogenous feeding, olfactory sensitivity to signals which elicit defensive and feeding behavioral responses begins to form and the ability to differentiate between similar odors develops. The reception of a limited number of taste stimuli occurs in the larvae during the transition to exogenous feeding. With age, the spectrum of effective taste substances expands and the time spent on the definition of palatability by juvenile fishes reduces. Functional development of individual components of the taste system arises heterochronously, i.e., the external (extraoral) form of taste reception arises earlier and more rapidly, and the oral (intraoral) form of taste reception arises slower. No information is available about the functional development of the common chemical sense in the ontogeny of fish. It is assumed that the function of the chemosensory system arises in fish in early larval stages.     

The cell biology of touch

The sense of touch detects forces that bombard the body's surface. In metazoans, an assortment of morphologically and functionally distinct mechanosensory cell types are tuned to selectively respond to diverse mechanical stimuli, such as vibration, stretch, and pressure. A comparative evolutionary approach across mechanosensory cell types and genetically tractable species is beginning to uncover the cellular logic of touch reception.     

Functional development of chemosensory systems in the ontogeny of fish

Regularities of the functional development of chemosensory systems in the ontogeny of fish has been studied, i.e., the olfactory system, the taste system, and the common chemical sense. The olfactory system begins to function and provides response of juveniles to chemical signals before the taste system. Embryos that have hatched from coating but that do not yet feed exhibit nonspecialized motor responses to olfactory stimuli already. Immediately after the transition to exogenous nutrition, olfactory sensitivity to signals which elicit defensive and feeding behavioral responses begins to form and the ability to differentiate between similar odors develops. The reception of a limited number of taste stimuli occurs in the larvae during the transition to exogenous nutrition. With age, the spectrum of effective taste substances expands and the time spent on the definition of palatability by juvenile fishes reduces. Functional development of individual components of the taste system arises heterochronously, i.e., the outer (extraoral) form of taste reception arises earlier and more rapidly, and the buccal (intraoral) form of taste reception arises slower. No information is available about the functional development of the common chemical sense in the ontogeny of fish. It is assumed that the function of the chemosensory system arises in fish in early larval instar.     

BEHAVIORAL EVIDENCE FOR HEARING THROUGH THE LOWER JAW BY AN ECHOLOCATING DOLPHIN (TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS)

On the basis of disputed physiological evidence the fat-filled lower jaw of odontocete cetaceans has previously been hypothesized as the primary pathway to the inner ear for acoustic signals. To gain behavioral evidence, a dolphin was trained to perform an echolocation task while wearing suction cups over its eyes and either of two neoprene robber hoods over its lower jaw. One hood allowed returning acoustic signals to pass. The other substantially attenuated such signals. The dolphin's performance was significantly hindered while wearing the attenuating hood ( P <. 001, ψ²) as would be expected if the lower jaw was critically important in the reception of high frequency signals.     

Songbirds learn songs least degraded by environmental transmission

Communication depends on accurate reception of signals by receivers, and selection acts on signals to transmit efficiently through the environment. Although learnt signals, such as birdsong, vary in their transmission properties through different habitats, few studies have addressed the role of cultural selection in driving acoustic adaptation. Here, we present a test of the hypothesis that song-learning birds choose to copy songs that are less degraded by transmission through the environment, using swamp sparrows (Melospiza georgiana) as our study species. We found that all subjects discriminated between undegraded and naturally degraded song models, and learnt only from undegraded song models, demonstrating a role for cultural selection in acoustic adaptation of learnt signals.     

光受体及光信号转导

植物在进化过程中形成了对环境信号反应的能力,光是植物生长发育中的一个重要的环境信号.植物为了更好地生长和发育形成了精密的光信号接收和转导系统.本文介绍近年来光信号接收即光受体和光信号的转导研究进展.     

Explanation of octave and diplacusis effects

The study is based on the model of sound perception that involves two systems of measuring the frequency of the sound being perceived. The system of analyzing the periodicity of spike sequence in axons of neurons innervating the internal auditory hair cells excited by the running wave is less precise, but it provides the estimation of the frequency of any periodical sounds. Exact measurement of the frequency of the sinusoidal sound occurs from the spikes in axons of neurones innervating the internal hair cells of the auditory reception field, which uses the entire train of waves excited by this sound in the critical layer of the waveguide of the internal ear cochlea, which corresponds to the frequency of the sound. The octave effect is explained in terms of the fact that the spectrum of frequencies of speech sounds, singing and music coincides with the region of the audibility range in which the impulses of the auditory nerve fibers are synchronized by incoming signals. The octave similarity, i.e., the similarity in the sounding of harmonic signals, whose frequencies relate as even numbers (2:1, etc.), is explained by an unambiguous match between the sound frequency and pulse rate in auditory fibers coming from the auditory reception field. The presence in the brain posterior tubercles of multipeak neurons whose peaks are in octave ratio, confirm the crucial role of the system of exact measurement of frequency in the phenomenon of octave similarity. The phenomenon of diplacusis, which is particularly pronounced in persons with Menier disease, is caused by changes in the position of the auditory reception field in the diseased ear as compared with the healthy ear. The alternating switching of reception from one ear to the other is related to a disturbance of the unitary image of pitch.     

光受体及光信号转导

植物在进化过程中形成了对环境信号反应的能力,光是植物生长发育中的一个重要的环境信号。植物为了更好地生长和发育形成了精密的光信号接收和转导系统。本文介绍近年来光信号接收即光受体和光信号的转导研究进展。     

Expression of heat shock protein 70a mRNA in Bombyx mori diapause eggs

In an effort to understand whether heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) participates in the environmental 5 °C signal reception/transduction toward breaking embryonic diapause of the silkworm Bombyx mori, we isolated a cDNA for Hsp70a and examined the expression of Hsp70a mRNA in B. mori diapause and nondiapause eggs by quantitative real-time PCR. Hsp70a mRNA gradually increased in diapause eggs continuously kept at 25 °C after oviposition to maintain diapause. When diapause eggs were exposed to the diapause-terminating condition of 5 °C beginning at 2 days post-oviposition, Hsp70a mRNA increased beginning at 5 days post-cold treatment. Even in nondiapause eggs, Hsp70a mRNA increased slightly with exposure to 5 °C. These results suggest that Hsp70a is involved in reception/transduction of the diapause-terminating (5 °C) signal via gene activation. The expression patterns of Hsp70a mRNA are discussed in relation to those of the cold-response gene Samui.     

Social Signals--An Overview

SYNOPSIS. Behavioral signals play an important role in the communicationof members of a social group. This symposium explores thoseaspects of social signals that emphasize phylogenetic adaptationsand endocrine coordination of communicatory behaviors. Speciesdiversity in signalling modalities may be viewed as adaptationsfor effective communication in different habitats. Reproductionprovides a rich context for social signalling, perhaps relatedto requirements for complex and intimate cooperation betweenpartners. Hormones that regulate reproductive physiology alsoact to modulate the production and reception of social signals.The approaches of symposium contributors have benefited fromthe combination of field studies with the powerful analytictechniques of the laboratory. In addition, an appreciation ofsources of information important for an animal in its naturalhabitat has focused the attention of physiological studies ontobehaviorally meaningful problems.     

Commensal auditory communication in two species of Neoconocephalus (Orthoptera)

Auditory communication in Neoconcephalus ensiger and Neoconocephalus robustus, two stridulating tettigoniids that inhabit the same geographical area, was examined to determine how these two species interact. Computer and electrophysiological techniques were used to analyze sound production and reception. Although similar in appearance, the males of these species produce easily distinguishable acoustic communication signals (call songs) that serve to attract conspecific females. Both wave form and spectral analyses were done on selected segments of the species-specific call songs by using discrete Fourier transform techniques. Sound production and reception capacities were measured by octave-band analyzers and extracellular electrode techniques. The results show that each of these species has a distinct, primary carrier frequency band. Secondly, the log magnitude spectra revealed a significant secondary component in the call song of N. robustus which corresponds to the primary energy band in the call song of N. ensiger. This overlap in acoustic signals and other findings suggest that males of N. ensiger might use the louder stridulation of the more metabolically active N. robustus to attract conspecific females over great distances. N. ensiger males have a sound production capacity like N. robustus, but conserve energy for soft, near-field signaling. The audiogram representing sensitivity of the tympano-receptor in the foreleg showed sound reception to be matched precisely with sound production curves.     

Analysis of human serum proteins by liquid phase isoelectric focusing and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry

Direct matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis of human serum yielded ion signals from only a fraction of the total number of peptides and proteins expected to be in the sample. We increased the number of peptide and protein ion signals observed in the MALDI-TOF mass spectra analysis of human serum by using a prefractionation protocol based on liquid phase isoelectric focusing electrophoresis. This pre-fractionation technique facilitated the MALDI-TOF MS detection of as many as 262 different peptide and protein ion signals from human serum. The results obtained from three replicate fractionation experiments on the same serum sample indicated that 148 different peptide and protein ion signals were reproducibly detected using our isoelectric focusing and MALDI-TOF MS protocol.     

Comparison of diverse transport signals in synthetic peptide-induced nuclear transport

Several investigations have demonstrated the ability of synthetic peptides homologous to the nuclear transport signal of simian virus 40 large T antigen to induce the nuclear transport of nonnuclear carrier proteins. To determine the generality of peptide-induced transport, six peptides with sequences derived from four previously identified nuclear transport signals were synthesized and examined for their ability to induce the transport of mouse immunoglobulin G following microinjection into the cytoplasm of mammalian cells. Peptides containing transport signals from simian virus 40 T antigen, Xenopus nucleoplasmin, and adenovirus E1A proteins were highly efficient at peptide-induced transport, while a peptide homologous to yeast MAT alpha 2 protein was incapable of inducing transport. A short nucleoplasmin peptide that contained only the basic amino acid domain was capable of inducing transport but yielded a much slower rate of transport than a long nucleoplasmin peptide encompassing the previously identified minimal transport signal. The short nucleoplasmin signal exhibited a greater capacity for transport than a peptide homologous to the cytoplasmic mutant T antigen signal when conjugates with a low number of signals coupled per carrier protein were examined. However, the short nucleoplasmin peptide was only marginally more effective than the T antigen mutant peptide when conjugates with a high number of signals coupled per carrier protein were examined.     

Regulation of Maize Leaf Nitrate Reductase Activity Involves Both Gene Expression and Protein Phosphorylation

Nitrate reductase (NR; EC 1.6.6.1) activity increased at the beginning of the photoperiod in mature green maize (Zea mays L.) leaves as a result of increased enzyme protein level and protein dephosphorylation. In vitro experiments suggested that phosphorylation of maize leaf NR affected sensitivity to Mg2+ inhibition, as shown previously in spinach. When excised leaves were fed 32P-labeled inorganic phosphate, NR was phosphorylated on seryl residues in both the light and dark. Tryptic peptide mapping of NR labeled in vivo indicated three major 32P-phosphopeptide fragments, and labeling of all three was reduced when leaves were illuminated. Maize leaf NR mRNA levels that were low at the end of the dark period peaked within 2 h in the light and decreased thereafter, and NR activity generally remained high. It appears that light signals, rather than an endogenous rhythm, account primarily for diurnal variations in NR mRNA levels. Overall, regulation of NR activity in mature maize leaves in response to light signals appears to involve control of gene expression, enzyme protein synthesis, and reversible protein phosphorylation.     

An FGF autocrine loop initiated in second heart field mesoderm regulates morphogenesis at the arterial pole of the heart

In order to understand how secreted signals regulate complex morphogenetic events, it is crucial to identify their cellular targets. By conditional inactivation of Fgfr1 and Fgfr2 and overexpression of the FGF antagonist sprouty 2 in different cell types, we have dissected the role of FGF signaling during heart outflow tract development in mouse. Contrary to expectation, cardiac neural crest and endothelial cells are not primary paracrine targets. FGF signaling within second heart field mesoderm is required for remodeling of the outflow tract: when disrupted, outflow myocardium fails to produce extracellular matrix and TGFbeta and BMP signals essential for endothelial cell transformation and invasion of cardiac neural crest. We conclude that an autocrine regulatory loop, initiated by the reception of FGF signals by the mesoderm, regulates correct morphogenesis at the arterial pole of the heart. These findings provide new insight into how FGF signaling regulates context-dependent cellular responses during development.     

Coevolution of senders and receivers of sexual signals: Genetic coupling and genetic correlations

The parallel evolution of senders and receivers of sexual signals has been a topic of research in both neuroethology and evolutionary quantitative genetics. Neuroethologists have debated whether the same physiological mechanism underlies both production and reception of a signal, and whether the same genes affect the physiology of communication in each sex. Quantitative geneticists have discussed the possibility that particular types of signals, and preferences for those types, are inherited together. Studies of communication by a variety of insect species do not provide strong support for a common physiological mechanism, but do not rule out the genetic effect. The neuroethological perspective may be of assistance in understanding the evolution of sexual communication because it offers a way to subdivide communication into units for genetic analysis.     

Environmental stimulus perception and control of circadian clocks

Circadian rhythms are regulated by clocks located in specific structures of the central nervous system, such as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in mammals, and by peripheral oscillators present in various other tissues. Recent discoveries have elucidated the control of central and peripheral clocks by environmental signals. The major synchroniser in animals is light. In mammals, a subset of retinal ganglion cells receive light signals that are transmitted to the SCN via the retinohypothalamic tract. Photoreception is probably elicited by a novel opsin, melanopsin, although cryptochromes may also play a role. These signals feed directly to the SCN master clock, which then provides timing cues to peripheral clocks. In contrast to mammals, peripheral tissues in the fly and in the fish are directly photoreceptive. However, alternative routes exist. Some peripheral clocks in mammals can be specifically entrained in an SCN-independent manner by restricting food during the light period.