Zebrafish Rock!

Expand your random fish knowledge with #TeleostTalk 🐟🐠🐡

#SciArt 🤝 #zebrafish 🟰 #ZebrafishZunday

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“Overall, our study illustrates that genome wide transcriptional changes underly adaptation mechanisms that enhance intestinal function and organismal survival in response to protein malnutrition.”

New work from @bagnatlab.bsky.social & Dr. Jieun Park at UNC 🐟

One more week to finalize your applications for the 2026 MBL zebrafish course at Woods Hole!

Application deadline extended to March 9.

Please repost and forward to anyone interested in learning 'everything zebrafish'!

www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

Ping @olfactlady.bsky.social Thought you would like this one!

Genetic architecture underlying changes in carotenoid accumulation during the evolution of the blind Mexican cavefish, Astyanax mexicanus Cave-adapted forms of Astyanax mexicanus accumulate dietary carotenoids in the visceral adipose tissue and have associated changes in gene expression.

The review references this paper 👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Fish models for investigating nutritional regulation of embryonic development In recent decades, biologist have focused on the spatiotemporal regulation and function of genes to understand embryogenesis. It is clear that materna…

Of course! We got the figure from this review 👇 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Fig. 6. The Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, as a model to study nutritional control of development. This species of small fish (~4–6 cm as adults) consists of cave-dwelling morphotypes (cavefish, A, C) and ancestral river-dwelling morphotypes (surface fish, B, D). Cavefish evolved from surface fish in perpetually dark caves and adapted to a nutrient poor diet of bat guano and material brought in by seasonal floods. The fish are easy to maintain in the laboratory and are interfertile. Cavefish larvae (C, 4 days post fertilization (dpf)) have more yolk and the yolk appears more yellow compared to surface fish (C, 4dpf) suggesting a difference in nutritional content. The yolk of F1 surface cave/hybrids produced from cavefish females (E) is more yellow compared to those produced from surface fish females (F). Comparing these reciprocal crosses will be useful for understanding how maternally provided nutrients in the yolk impact development. Scale bars ​= ​0.5mm. (A, B) Images provided by Nicholas Rohner, Stowers Institute for Medical Research. (C–D), Images reproduced with permission from (Riddle et al., 2020). Credit figure and text to Riddle and Hu (2021).

A. mexicanus are a promising model to study nutritional control of development as cavefish larvae yolks are larger & appear more yellow compared to surface fish suggesting differences in nutritional content. Reciprocal crosses show how maternally-provided nutrients impact development. #TeleostTalk 🧪

"The goal of the present study is to begin to define the structure and functional organization of the olfactory bulb in A. mexicanus, and to begin to understand how it was transformed via cave adaptation."

New #cavefish work from the Storace Lab at Florida State University 🐟

Video description: Dorsal view of a two-headed zebrafish larva. Movie captures calcium imaging taken by light-sheet microscopy. Z-projection. The flashes are calcium increases, which are caused by electrical spikes of neurons. Both brains (left) are competing for control of the spinal cord (right).

LSFM calcium imaging of the brains of a two-headed zebrafish larva, both competing for control of the spinal cord. Credit to @davisvbennett.bsky.social & Dr. Yu Mu (formerly @hhmijanelia.bsky.social) #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Logo for the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). It shows a the letter UDN is different colors that overlap to form the analogous colors.

Today is #RareDiseaseDay & we are celebrating by highlighting the invaluable work of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN)! Formed in 2020, it aims to solve the most challenging medical mysteries using advanced technologies. In this thread, we will highlight their use of the #zebrafish model. 1/5 🧪

Definitely not proofed by an engineer 😉

Timely review with contributions from @dvalenzano.bsky.social @brunetlab.bsky.social & Jan Philipp Junker @mdc-berlin.bsky.social among others 🐟 #killifish #zebrafish

ICYMI… A gem from 2025 by @karinayaniv.bsky.social Lab 🐟 #KnowYourZDM @zdmsociety.bsky.social

Undiagnosed Diseases Network Undiagnosed Diseases Network

For more on the use of model organisms in research, check out this lovely review on the topic: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Want to learn more about UDN? Visit their website for more information about the amazing research that has been done & is currently ongoing! undiagnosed.hms.harvard.edu

Figure 8Rab5c variants and dose disturb zebrafish development. Expression of the Rab5c variants was achieved by mRNA microinjection in zebrafish embryos. The different classes and color scheme (A) are defined on developmental parameters such as cephalic development, anterior–posterior axis, caudal edema formation and yolk extension shape. Tissue necrosis and abnormal tail growth are also observed. Class I depicts normal development. Class II displays mild developmental defects observable in the reduced size of the eyes and slight shortening of the AP axis. The yolk extension is short and thick (arrowhead). In class III, the AP axis is visibly shortened, the yolk extension is further shortened and caudal edema may be observed (asterisk). These phenotypes are further exacerbated in class IV; here, head necrosis is also visible.

In Koop et al. (2023), researchers found that expression of the human RAB5C variants in zebrafish embryos resulted in defective development emphasizing the damaging effects seen in RAD5C patients, which have neurodevelopmental disorders.

🔗 to original research: academic.oup.com/hmg/article/... 4/5

Structural integrity of the ER and Golgi apparatus and protein secretion are compromised in copb2b1327/b1327 zebrafish mutants. (A–F) Confocal sections of the notochord. Immunolabeling of KDEL in copb2 siblings (A) and copb2b1327/b1327 mutant (B) embryos. Immunolabeling of GM130 in copb2 siblings (C) and copb2b1327/b1327 mutant (D) embryos. Immunolabeling of type II collagen in copb2 siblings (E) and copb2b1327/b1327 mutant (F) embryos (anterior is to the left and dorsal to the top). Images were taken at the level of the yolk extension at 30 hpf.

In Marom et al. (2021), they identified loss-of-function variants in COPB2, in individuals presenting w/ osteoporosis, fractures, & developmental delays. They discovered copb2-null zebrafish embryos had low bone mass & early larval lethality.

🔗 to original research: www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltex... 3/5

(a) Overview of the gdf11 mutants generated via CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing (b–d) Alcian and Alizarin staining of the 7-dpf larval head skeleton labels cartilage (blue) and bone (red) elements. From the ventral aspect, Meckel’s cartilage (m) in the wild-type larval fish (b) extends rostrally beyond the ethmoid plate of the upper jaw (e, red dotted line delineates the rostral-most edge), the bilateral ceratohyal elements (ch) meet at the midline in a constrained angle of articulation (yellow dotted lines), and the opercular bone (op, red dotted circle) is ossified in with a broadening flare at its distal end. gdf11 mutants (c, d) exhibit defects in the alignment of upper and jaw elements, in the angle of ch articulation, and the morphology of the op with a more severe phenotype observed in the late truncating allele (d). (e, f) Upper and lower jaw element alignment are visualized again in sagittal sections of hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) stained 7-dpf wild-type (e) and gdf11 mutant (f) larvae, in which the ethmoid plate protrudes beyond the rostral limit of Meckel’s cartilage.

Ravenscroft et al. (2021) found that heterozygous loss-of-function variants expanded the phenotypes associated w/ loss of GDF11 as gdf11-null #zebrafish exhibit craniofacial abnormalities & body segmentation defects as seen in patients.

🔗 to original research: www.gimjournal.org/article/S109... 2/5

Logo for the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). It shows a the letter UDN is different colors that overlap to form the analogous colors.

Today is #RareDiseaseDay & we are celebrating by highlighting the invaluable work of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN)! Formed in 2020, it aims to solve the most challenging medical mysteries using advanced technologies. In this thread, we will highlight their use of the #zebrafish model. 1/5 🧪

Regeneration powers activate! 🔥🐟

Beautiful! 😍 🧪

ICYMI

🔗 to original research: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Timely review with contributions from @dvalenzano.bsky.social @brunetlab.bsky.social & Jan Philipp Junker @mdc-berlin.bsky.social among others 🐟 #killifish #zebrafish

🐟🦴

ICYMI

Still looking for swimming fish 👀

Go Sofia! She is a grad student in the lab @jrmarmor.bsky.social 🐠 #YouRock #KillifishRock

For those finterested!

🔗 to paper: www.cell.com/current-biol...

a close up of a fish with its mouth open and looking at the camera . Alt: a close up of a fish with its mouth open and looking at the camera .

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