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Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in Antarctic notothenioids contains a polyglutamine and glutamic acid insert that varies in length with phylogeny

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Abstract

The long evolution of the Antarctic perciform suborder of Notothenioidei in the icy, oxygen-rich waters of the Southern Ocean may have reduced selective pressure to maintain a hypoxic response. To test this hypothesis, cDNA of the key transcriptional regulator of hypoxic genes, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), was sequenced in heart ventricles of the red-blooded notothenioid, Notothenia coriiceps, and the hemoglobinless icefish, Chaenocephalus aceratus. HIF-1α cDNA is 4500 base pairs (bp) long and encodes 755 amino acids in N. coriiceps, and in C. aceratus, HIF-1α is 3576 bp long and encodes 779 amino acids. All functional domains of HIF-1α are highly conserved compared to other teleosts, but HIF-1α contains a polyglutamine/glutamic acid (polyQ/E) insert nine amino acids long in N. coriiceps and 34 amino acids long in C. aceratus. Sequencing of this region in four additional species, representing three families of notothenioids, revealed that the length of the polyQ/E insert varies with phylogeny. Icefishes, the crown family of notothenioids, contain the longest polyQ/E inserts, ranging between 16 and 34 amino acids long, whereas the basal, cold-temperate notothenioid, Eleginops maclovinus, contains a polyQ/E insert only 4 amino acids long. PolyQ/E inserts may affect dimerization of HIF-1α and HIF-1β, HIF-1 translocation into the nucleus and/or DNA binding.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (PLR-1341663 to KOB). A.R. was supported in part by a graduate fellowship from an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (P20GM103395). The content of this work is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the official views of the NIH. Thanks to Dr. Chi-Hing Christina Cheng for providing samples of E. maclovinus.

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  1. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    A. S. Rix & K. M. O’Brien

  2. Department of Biology, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA, 31698, USA

    T. J. Grove

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  1. A. S. Rix
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Rix, A.S., Grove, T.J. & O’Brien, K.M. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in Antarctic notothenioids contains a polyglutamine and glutamic acid insert that varies in length with phylogeny. Polar Biol 40, 2537–2545 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2164-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2164-6

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