PROJECT ID: GSE162787


Data source GEO: GSE162787
Description The pituitary is the vertebrate endocrine gland responsible for the production and secretion of several essential peptide hormones. These, in turn, control many aspects of an animal's physiology and development, including growth, reproduction, homeostasis, metabolism and stress responses. In teleost fish, each hormone is presumably produced by a specific cell type. However, key details on the regulation of, and communication between these cell types are still poorly understood. We have therefore generated gene expression profiles for 2592 and 3804 individual cells from the pituitaries of female and male adult medaka (Oryzias latipes), respectively. Based on expression profile clustering, we define 15 and 16 distinct cell types in the female and male pituitary, respectively, of which nine are involved in the exclusive production of a single peptide hormone. Collectively, our data provide a high-quality reference for studies on pituitary biology and the regulation of hormone production, both in fish and in vertebrates in general. Overall design: Single cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) of the medaka pituitary.
Key word [1]green fluorescent protein; folliculo-stell ate cells; gene-expression; reveals; medaka; lh; [2]pituitary; atlas; teleost; hormone; multihormonal cells; single-cell transcriptomics; cell-types; immunocytochemical identification; gonadotropic cells; mediterranean yellowtail; adenohypophyseal cells; oreochromis-niloticus; seriola-dumerili; teleost pituitary; growth-hormone
Publication [1]Siddique K, Ager-Wick E, Fontaine R, Weltzien FA et al. Characterization of hormone-producing cell types in the teleost pituitary gland using single-cell RNA-seq. Sci Data 2021 Oct 28;8(1):279. PMID: 34711832; [2]Royan MR, Siddique K, Csucs G, Puchades MA et al. 3D Atlas of the Pituitary Gland of the Model Fish Medaka (Oryzias latipes). Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2021;12:719843. PMID: 34497587
Abstract [1]The pituitary is the vertebrate endocrine gland responsible for the production and secretion of several essential peptide hormones. These, in turn, control many aspects of an animal's physiology and development, including growth, reproduction, homeostasis, metabolism, and stress responses. In teleost fish, each hormone is presumably produced by a specific cell type. However, key details on the regulation of, and communication between these cell types remain to be resolved. We have therefore used single-cell sequencing to generate gene expression profiles for 2592 and 3804 individual cells from the pituitaries of female and male adult medaka (Oryzias latipes), respectively. Based on expression profile clustering, we define 15 and 16 distinct cell types in the female and male pituitary, respectively, of which ten are involved in the production of a single peptide hormone. Collectively, our data provide a high-quality reference for studies on pituitary biology and the regulation of hormone production, both in fish and in vertebrates in general. [2]In vertebrates, the anterior pituitary plays a crucial role in regulating several essential physiological processes via the secretion of at least seven peptide hormones by different endocrine cell types. Comparative and comprehensive knowledge of the spatial distribution of those endocrine cell types is required to better understand their physiological functions. Using medaka as a model and several combinations of multi-color fluorescence in situ hybridization, we present the first 3D atlas revealing the gland-wide distribution of seven endocrine cell populations: lactotropes, thyrotropes, Lh and Fsh gonadotropes, somatotropes, and pomca-expressing cells (corticotropes and melanotropes) in the anterior pituitary of a teleost fish. By combining in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence techniques, we deciphered the location of corticotropes and melanotropes within the pomca-expressing cell population. The 3D localization approach reveals sexual dimorphism of tshba-, pomca-, and lhb-expressing cells in the adult medaka pituitary. Finally, we show the existence of bi-hormonal cells co-expressing lhb-fshb, fshb-tshba and lhb-sl using single-cell transcriptomics analysis and in situ hybridization. This study offers a solid basis for future comparative studies of the teleost pituitary and its functional plasticity.


Dataset Information


Dataset ID Species Tissue / Organ Experiment type Sample Source dataset ID
1. GSE162787 (male) Oryzias latipes pituitary baseline male, adult, untreatment GEO: GSM4959938
2. GSE162787 (female) Oryzias latipes pituitary baseline female, adult, untreatment GEO: GSM4959937

Clustering Result


Cluster Cell type Gene id (symbol) Marker class Evidence
1 Melanophores ENSORLG00000005993 (oacyl) marker DOI:10.1016/j.cbpb.2003.11.007
1 Melanophores ENSORLG00000025908 (pomca) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750
2 Corticotropes ENSORLG00000025908 (pomca) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750
3 Lactotropes ENSORLG00000016928 (prl) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
4 Lactotropes ENSORLG00000016928 (prl) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
5 Somatolactotropes ENSORLG00000013460 (smtla) marker DOI:10.1126/science.aba4767; DOI:10.1016/j.mce.2013.10.016
6 Somatotropes ENSORLG00000019556 (gh1) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
7 Thyrotropes ENSORLG00000029251 (tshba) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
8 Fsh-gonadotropes ENSORLG00000029237 (fshb) marker DOI:10.1095/biolreprod.108.070052
9 Lh-gonadotropes ENSORLG00000003553 (lhb) marker DOI:10.1016/j.cbpb.2003.11.007; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x; DOI:10.1016/j.mce.2013.10.016; DOI:10.1530/JOE-18-0412
10 Gonadotrope ENSORLG00000022598 (cga) marker DOI:10.1095/biolreprod.108.070052; DOI:10.3389/fendo.2019.00623
10 Gonadotrope ENSORLG00000013196 (nr5a1b) marker DOI:10.1095/biolreprod.108.070052; DOI:10.3389/fendo.2019.00623
11 Red blood cells ENSORLG00000003046 (gb) marker DOI:10.1038/s41597-021-01058-8
12 Macrophages ENSORLG00000000021 marker DOI:10.1038/s41597-021-01058-8
15 Cga-expressing cells ENSORLG00000022598 (cga) marker DOI:10.1016/j.mce.2013.10.016

Cluster Cell type Gene id (symbol) Marker class Evidence
1 Melanophores ENSORLG00000005993 (oacyl) marker DOI:10.1016/j.cbpb.2003.11.007
1 Melanophores ENSORLG00000025908 (pomca) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750
2 Corticotropes ENSORLG00000025908 (pomca) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750
3 Lactotropes ENSORLG00000016928 (prl) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
4 Lactotropes ENSORLG00000016928 (prl) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
5 Somatolactotropes ENSORLG00000013460 (smtla) marker DOI:10.1126/science.aba4767; DOI:10.1016/j.mce.2013.10.016
6 Somatotropes ENSORLG00000019556 (gh1) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
7 Thyrotropes ENSORLG00000029251 (tshba) marker DOI:10.1210/en.2018-00750; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x
8 Fsh-gonadotropes ENSORLG00000029237 (fshb) marker DOI:10.1095/biolreprod.108.070052
9 Lh-gonadotropes ENSORLG00000003553 (lhb) marker DOI:10.1016/j.cbpb.2003.11.007; DOI:10.1007/s13238-020-00705-x; DOI:10.1016/j.mce.2013.10.016; DOI:10.1530/JOE-18-0412
10 Gonadotrope ENSORLG00000022598 (cga) marker DOI:10.1095/biolreprod.108.070052; DOI:10.3389/fendo.2019.00623
10 Gonadotrope ENSORLG00000013196 (nr5a1b) marker DOI:10.1095/biolreprod.108.070052; DOI:10.3389/fendo.2019.00623
11 Red blood cells ENSORLG00000003046 (gb) marker DOI:10.1038/s41597-021-01058-8
12 Macrophages ENSORLG00000000021 marker DOI:10.1038/s41597-021-01058-8
15 Cga-expressing cells ENSORLG00000022598 (cga) marker DOI:10.1016/j.mce.2013.10.016