General and comparative endocrinologyMay 9, 2017

Insulin-like factors in blue crab ovaries and their roles in egg development

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 28, 2026

Abstract

The expression levels of CasIAG-ova and its putative binding protein, ILPBP, vary significantly across seasons and ovarian developmental stages.

CasIAG-ova and ILPBP show higher expression in female Callinectes sapidus ovaries during summer, particularly at earlier developmental stages.
The mature peptide sequence of CasIAG-ova is identical to that of IAG from the androgenic gland, with differences in their signal peptide regions.
CasIAG-ova contains an alternative start codon, indicating potential differences in its translational regulation compared to IAG from the androgenic gland.
CasILPBP expression levels in the ovary are approximately 10 to 10,000 times higher than those of CasIAG-ova.
The expression patterns of CasILPBP differ from those of CasIAG-ova, suggesting ILPBP may have additional roles in ovarian development.

Simplified

Insulin-like androgenic gland factor (IAG) that is produced by the male androgenic gland (AG), plays a role in sexual differentiation and maintenance of male secondary sex characteristics in decapod crustaceans. With an earlier finding of IAG expression in a female Callinectes sapidus ovary, we aimed to examine a putative role of IAG during the ovarian development of this species. To this end, the full-length cDNA sequence of the ovarian CasIAG (termed CasIAG-ova) has been isolated. The predicted mature peptide sequence of CasIAG-ova is identical to that of the IAG from the AG, except in their signal peptide regions. The CasIAG-ova contains an alternative initiation codon (UUG) as the start codon, which suggests that the translational regulation of CasIAG-ova may differ from that of the IAG from AG. To define the function of CasIAG-ova, the expressions of CasIAG-ova as well as its putative binding protein, insulin-like peptide binding protein (ILPBP), are measured in the ovaries at various developmental stages obtained from different seasons. Season affects both CasIAG and ILPBP expression in the ovary. Overall, summer females at earlier ovarian stages contain high levels of CasIAG and ILPBP than spring or fall females. These findings indicate that CasIAG-ova and CasILPBP may be involved in the ovarian development. When comparing the levels of CasIAG and CasILPBP in the ovary, the latter are much higher (∼10-10000 fold) than the former. Expression patterns of CasILPBP differ from those of CasIAG-ova during ovarian development and by season, suggesting that ILPBP may have an additional role in ovarian development rather than a function of a putative binding protein of IAG.

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Insulin-like factors in blue crab ovaries and their roles in egg development

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