Two-color double-labeling in situ hybridization of whole-mount Hydra using RNA probes for five different Hydra neuropeptide preprohormones: evidence for colocalization

The freshwater polyp Hydra magnipapillata has a primitive nervous system that produces at least three distinct classes of neuropeptides: various peptides having the C-terminal sequence Arg-Phe-NH2 (the Hydra-RFamide family), Leu-Trp-NH2 (the Hydra-LWamide family), and a single peptide having the C-terminal sequence Lys-Val-NH2 (Hydra-KVamide). The various Hydra-RFamides are synthesized by three different preprohormones: preprohormone-A, -B, and -C. The various Hydra-LWamides are synthesized by a single preprohormone (prepro-Hydra-LWamide), as is Hydra-KVamide (prepro-Hydra-KVamide). Using a wholemount double-labeling two-color in situ hybridization technique and RNA probes specific for each of these five Hydra preprohormone mRNAs, we found that specific sets of neurons express each of the five preprohormones, except for the peduncle region of Hydra (an area just above the basal disk), where a population of neurons exists that expresses both preprohormones-A and preproHydra-KVamide mRNAs. The functional significance of this coexpression is unclear. This is the first report on the coexpression of two well-characterized preprohormones (yielding two well-characterized neurohormone families) in cnidarians. This report also shows that there are at least six neurochemically different populations of neurons in Hydra.