Introduction
The major sex steroids in humans, progesterone (P), testosterone (T), and 17β-estradiol (E2), were discovered in the 1920-30s (–). Not long afterwards, the presence of vertebrate sex steroids in marine molluscan tissues was first reported (). At the time, it was reasonable to assume that these steroids were of endogenous origin in mollusks (and in invertebrates in general) and were possibly used as hormones in the same way as they are in vertebrates. This led people to investigate the effects of sex steroids in mollusks, the first study was published as early as 1959 (). All but a handful of the 300+ scientific papers and reviews, mainly using analytical, immunological, molecular, and behavioral measurements, have since concluded either that mollusks are able to biosynthesize vertebrate steroids de novo, appear to contain steroid receptor-like binding activity, or respond in one way or another when exposed to vertebrate steroids.
The research area had two key discoveries that served as driving forces. First, the notorious discovery that the anti-fouling compound tributyltin (TBT) is the main causative agent of penis growth in the females of marine snails (). Due to the previously described presence of T in molluscan tissues, this ‘androgenic’ effect led to the hypothesis that the phenomenon was caused by alteration of T production or metabolism by TBT [reviewed by (, )]. Second, that hormone residues of human origin are present in the environment including surface waters () and that estrogenically active compounds emitted by wastewater treatment plants induced massive vitellogenin production in immature fish (). Because of the worldwide concern about the hormone residues (and other compounds) as possible endocrine disruptors (EDs) in the aquatic environment, most of the research has focused on the effects of estrogens and androgens on reproduction on fish because the hormones and their effects are so similar between the two taxonomic groups. Some robust and relatively accurate test procedures, using fish, exist for detecting and quantifying the biological activity of estrogenic and androgenic activity in water. The drawback to these tests is that they are very expensive and, because fish are vertebrates, require a lot of paperwork in relation to vivisection laws in developed countries. This and the concern about the possible endocrine disruption of mollusks, which also have an important ecological and economic role, led to a burst of activity in the 1990s and 2000s to use them as alternative test animals for monitoring vertebrate-type EDs.
Starting from 2010, critical reviews called into doubt the claims that reproductively-related peptides, sex steroids, and their receptors that are present in vertebrates, and that can also be found in mollusks, necessarily have the same function (, –). These efforts pointed out many weaknesses of different techniques and approaches (e.g., immunoassays, biomarkers, nominative determinism) used over 70 years in this area. This opinion paper deals with the historical trends of endocrine disruption research in marine mollusks and presents the way to the recognition that invertebrate endocrinology differs from the well-characterized vertebrate endocrine system. We will focus on the sex steroids and not discuss compounds that are not themselves steroids but, for example, act as sex steroids (e.g., bisphenol A) or modify the actions of sex steroids (e.g., cyproterone acetate) in vertebrates. We will also discuss some underexplored research lines (e.g., membrane receptors) and delineate some possible future directions that can throw light on the molluscan endocrinology.
Historical Trends of ED Research in Marine Mollusks
Analytical Measurements and Immunoassays Revealed That Vertebrate Sex Steroids Occur in Molluscan Tissues
When vertebrate sex steroids in marine molluscan tissues were first reported, nothing was known about the reproduction-mediating endocrine system of mollusks. Building on the pioneer finding, numerous (>50) subsequent publications, mainly using analytical methods (e.g., gas/liquid chromatography coupled mass spectrometry) and immunoassays (e.g., enzyme/radioimmunoassay), have reported the presence of different vertebrate sex steroids in a wide range of (marine) mollusks [reviewed by (, )]. Some (but, it must be stressed, not all) studies found that steroid concentrations sometimes 1) show seasonal changes, 2) are different between tissues and sexes, and 3) can alter due to other contaminants (). These findings have encouraged people to believe mollusks have a vertebrate-type endocrine system and are able to biosynthesize vertebrate steroids de novo. As a result, researchers have extensively investigated the effects of sex steroids in (marine) molluscan species over the last 60 years [reviewed by ()].
Proteins Associated With De Novo Synthesis and Receptor-Mediation of Vertebrate Sex Steroids Are Present in Marine Mollusks
Besides measuring sex steroid levels in marine mollusks, researchers have been interested in proving the presence of proteins involved in the synthesis and receptor-mediation of P, T, and E2. The vertebrate sex steroids are formed by a process starting with the side-chain cleavage of cholesterol and finishing with the aromatization of T to E2 (). Six steps of the multistep pathway (though some with low activity) appear to be present in marine mollusks with the genes encoding the relevant catalyzing enzymes also found in molluscan genomes (Figure 1) (, , ). The evidence for their occurrence in marine mollusks is strong – e.g., conversion of pregnenolone to P by the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus), and blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) (–); conversion of androstenedione (Ad) to T by eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and S. officinalis (, ); conversion of estrone to E2 by C. virginica and M. edulis (, ); and conversion of T to dihydrotestosterone by M. edulis (). The question whether the two remaining crucial steps, cholesterol side-change cleavage and aromatization (catalyzed by CYP11A and CYP19A, respectively), are present in marine mollusks is of substantial interest in this area. To the best of our knowledge, there is no firm evidence that any metazoans other than vertebrates can carry out cholesterol side-chain cleavage (). In contrast, previous studies have demonstrated either aromatase activity (, –) or immunostaining of cells with antibody raised against human aromatase (, , ) in marine mollusks.
Figure 1
The discovery of molluscan nER, a homologue of vertebrate nER, in marine mollusks in the early 2000s confirmed the notion that these species have a vertebrate-type endocrine system and further increased the activity to develop mollusks as test animals for endocrine disruption. The first molluscan nER was biochemically and immunohistochemically identified in O. vulgaris (
Nominative Determinism
Nominative determinism is, in our opinion, a major problem in invertebrate research. Simply put, there are protein/DNA sequences in invertebrates that are homologous to hormones, receptors, and enzymes in vertebrates. These proteins are invariably given the names that describe their function in vertebrates and seduce people into concluding ‘if that protein has name and function x in humans, then it must also have function x in the invertebrate species that I am working on’.
An example is the case of the invertebrate GnRH/corazonin (invGnRH/CRZ) neuropeptides. The original term invGnRH is a misnomer derived from the misinterpretation of sequence and function of the first discovered invGnRH/CRZ in O. vulgaris (
Another example is the abovementioned, inappropriately named ‘molluscan nER’ which, study after study has shown, does not bind to estrogens at all (
On the Way to the Light: Uptake and Esterification of Steroids by Mollusks
The most common type of study of this research area involvessampling animals at different reproductive stages, killing them and homogenizing their tissues homogenized and then measuring the levels of sex steroids using commercial immunoassay kits. If, as it often happens, these measurements are different between one reproductive stage and another, the authors claim that this is ‘evidence’ of an involvement of vertebrate steroids in the control of reproduction in mollusks. A critical review by Scott pointed out that people who have published such studies have in most cases completely ignored the facts that 1) the environment (including the laboratories) is awash with vertebrate steroids; 2) (marine) mollusks have a remarkable ability to absorb the common human sex steroids from water; and 3) they have an even more remarkable ability to store these steroids and/or their metabolites long-term in the form of fatty acid esters (
Spread of High-Throughput Sequencing Points Out the Lack of Key Sequences
Findings on sex steroid uptake by marine mollusks raised the idea that it is not possible to conclude that just because steroids are present in molluscan tissues, they are endogenously synthetized. The spread of next-generation sequencing techniques allowed researchers to sequence the genome and multiple transcriptomes of molluscan species and to identify their protein and receptor repertoires related to sex steroids. Such studies clearly demonstrated that any homologous sequence to vertebrate genes coding for CYP11A and CYP19A is not present in (marine) mollusks (Figure 1) (
These findings question the claims of the abovementioned studies that, for example, aromatase activity and CYP19A are present in mollusks. In fact, the methodical approaches, such as using labelled Ad and immunostaining with vertebrate antibodies, of those studies have since been questioned (
Finally, reference must be made that the robustness of the bioassay data in most of the papers which claim that mollusks use sex steroids as hormones in the same way as vertebrates, or seem affected by sex steroids, has been questioned (e.g., single experiments only, lack of replication, questionable endpoints, low effect sizes, lack of dose-responsiveness) (
Outstanding Questions and Possible Future Directions
We think one can agree that knowledge about molluscan endocrinology is ‘in the dark’, however, the introduction of some underexplored research lines to the discussion can contribute to throwing light on it.
Because of the worldwide concern about the possible endocrine disruption caused by hormone residues in surface waters, recent reviews, although they agree that the definition of sex steroids as ‘hormones’ cannot be applied in mollusks as in vertebrates, tried to fill in the gaps in the steroid signaling and raised the idea of membrane receptors/non-genomic pathways to explain the assumed physiological effects of sex steroids [reviewed by (
Based on the assumptions that at least one functional mER is present in mollusks and that the upregulation of nER mRNA is reflected at the protein level, Tran and her co-workers proposed a mechanistic model that considers an interplay between non-genomic and genomic pathways to explain E2 signaling in mollusks (
Although cephalochordate ERs are also insensitive to estrogen, functional assays showed that annelid ERs bind estrogen with high affinity (
Discussion
Ever since the discovery of vertebrate sex steroids in (marine) mollusks in the late 1950s, the investigation of their presence in molluscan tissues and their effects on these species has been of substantial interest. In our opinion, there are salutary lessons to be learned from the historical trends of this research area. In the early decades, when several studies have been published showing the presence of sex steroids (and proteins involved in their synthesis and receptor-mediation) in molluscan tissues, the lack of sequence data highly influenced the area while robbing researchers of implementing appropriate investigations. Actually, one could rightly assume that mollusks have a steroid biosynthetic pathway which is equivalent to that of vertebrates. From 2000, steroid uptake experiments demonstrated that these compounds are so readily absorbed that their presence is not necessarily evidence of endogenous synthesis. Technical developments in the genomic era have also improved the area with pointing out the lack of key sequences. However, all genes in the databases of invertebrate genomes are assigned gene ontology categories of vertebrate genes, this has also exacerbated the problem of nominative determinism (
We believe that the research area could be improved significantly by considering some principles. First, researchers, especially newcomers, should read widely and be hypercritical of what they read and of the claims people make in their papers (i.e. selection of appropriate or adequate papers). Second, we should incorporate greater involvement of the high-throughput sequencing platforms (e.g., Illumina, Oxford Nanopore), that are reproducible and now relatively cheap, in molluscan research to generate more genomic and transcriptomic data. This would reveal the presence or lack of given sequences and help prevent experiments that make no sense (e.g., measuring the changes of FSH level in mollusks) from being conducted and published. Also, the sequence data would give the opportunity to generate species-specific antibodies to the initial morphological studies before the functional ones. Third, we would like to emphasize that the presence of a gene sequence, even if orthologue from another gene whose function has been well-characterized, is not an indication of a conserved function. Inferring the function of a protein through only homology searches without any further functional investigations can be highly misleading. Last, it is very important to design the intended experiments appropriately [e.g., relevant endpoints for the compound(s) to be tested, within-study repetition, avoiding bias].
We would like to stress that none of the opinions expressed in this paper are intended as personal criticisms of any individual or organization. Our aim is to inspire invertebrate researchers to be hypercritical and to support the contention that molluscan endocrinology differs from the well-characterized vertebrate endocrine system.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Brain Project (#2017-1.2.1 NKP-2017-00002; Z.P.), 'Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (#138039; ZP), Bolyai Foundation (#BO/00646/21/8; ZP), László János Doctoral Scholarship (#498/2021/PTE DOK; IF), New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (ÚNKP-20-3-II-PTE-888; IF), Cooperative Doctoral Programme for Doctoral Scholarships of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (KDP-2020-1018493; IF), and Scholarship for National Young Talents (NTP-NFTÖ-21-B-0212; IF).
Publisher’s Note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Statements
Author contributions
IF: Conceptualization, Writing - original draft; ZP: Writing - review & editing, Supervision. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Prof. Alexander P. Scott and Dr. Gabriel V. Markov for the personal communications that provided many useful thoughts to the manuscript. Also, the authors are grateful to the Reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
invertebrate, marine mollusk, endocrine disruption, sex steroids, historical trends
Citation
Fodor I and Pirger Z (2022) From Dark to Light – An Overview of Over 70 Years of Endocrine Disruption Research on Marine Mollusks. Front. Endocrinol. 13:903575. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.903575
Received
24 March 2022
Accepted
13 June 2022
Published
07 July 2022
Volume
13 - 2022
Edited by
Jörg Oehlmann, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Reviewed by
Filipe Castro, University of Porto, Portugal; Miguel Machado Santos, University of Porto, Portugal
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© 2022 Fodor and Pirger.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: István Fodor, fodor.istvan@blki.hu
This article was submitted to Experimental Endocrinology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology
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