Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus development

Thyroid hormone (T3) is essential for vertebrate development as animals fail to develop into adults in the absence of T3. T3 is particularly critical for postembryonic development. This is a period around birth in mammals when most organs mature as plasma T3 level peaks. Unlike embryogenesis, postem...

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Main Authors: Yuta Tanizaki, Yun-Bo Shi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Endocrinology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1614439/full
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author Yuta Tanizaki
Yun-Bo Shi
author_facet Yuta Tanizaki
Yun-Bo Shi
author_sort Yuta Tanizaki
collection DOAJ
description Thyroid hormone (T3) is essential for vertebrate development as animals fail to develop into adults in the absence of T3. T3 is particularly critical for postembryonic development. This is a period around birth in mammals when most organs mature as plasma T3 level peaks. Unlike embryogenesis, postembryonic development has not been well-studied in mammals due to the difficulty to manipulate mammalian embryos and neonates. In contrast, anuran metamorphosis involves drastic transformations of essentially every organ/tissue of a tadpole and can be easily manipulated externally without maternal influence. In addition, most changes during metamorphosis resemble organ-maturation during postembryonic mammalian development. Thus, metamorphosis offers a unique and highly advantageous opportunity for studying postembryonic vertebrate development. Studies on the metamorphosis of Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis, two highly related species have offered significant insights on the function of thyroid hormone receptors in development. Here we will review some of these studies, with particular emphasis on recent genetic and genome-wide molecular analyses in the diploid species Xenopus tropicalis, that support a dual function model of TR, involving distinct, organ-specific roles of TRα and TRβ, the only known TR genes in all vertebrates.
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spelling doaj-art-604e0a654fa348a98a873b5d900040dc2025-08-20T03:11:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Endocrinology1664-23922025-06-011610.3389/fendo.2025.16144391614439Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus developmentYuta Tanizaki0Yun-Bo Shi1Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanSection on Molecular Morphogenesis, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Maryland, MD, United StatesThyroid hormone (T3) is essential for vertebrate development as animals fail to develop into adults in the absence of T3. T3 is particularly critical for postembryonic development. This is a period around birth in mammals when most organs mature as plasma T3 level peaks. Unlike embryogenesis, postembryonic development has not been well-studied in mammals due to the difficulty to manipulate mammalian embryos and neonates. In contrast, anuran metamorphosis involves drastic transformations of essentially every organ/tissue of a tadpole and can be easily manipulated externally without maternal influence. In addition, most changes during metamorphosis resemble organ-maturation during postembryonic mammalian development. Thus, metamorphosis offers a unique and highly advantageous opportunity for studying postembryonic vertebrate development. Studies on the metamorphosis of Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis, two highly related species have offered significant insights on the function of thyroid hormone receptors in development. Here we will review some of these studies, with particular emphasis on recent genetic and genome-wide molecular analyses in the diploid species Xenopus tropicalis, that support a dual function model of TR, involving distinct, organ-specific roles of TRα and TRβ, the only known TR genes in all vertebrates.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1614439/fullXenopus laevisXenopus tropicalisdevelopmental timingmetamorphosisthyroid hormone receptorchromatin remodeling
spellingShingle Yuta Tanizaki
Yun-Bo Shi
Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus development
Frontiers in Endocrinology
Xenopus laevis
Xenopus tropicalis
developmental timing
metamorphosis
thyroid hormone receptor
chromatin remodeling
title Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus development
title_full Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus development
title_fullStr Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus development
title_full_unstemmed Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus development
title_short Thyroid hormone receptor subtype-specific function in controlling organ-specific developmental timing and rate during Xenopus development
title_sort thyroid hormone receptor subtype specific function in controlling organ specific developmental timing and rate during xenopus development
topic Xenopus laevis
Xenopus tropicalis
developmental timing
metamorphosis
thyroid hormone receptor
chromatin remodeling
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1614439/full
work_keys_str_mv AT yutatanizaki thyroidhormonereceptorsubtypespecificfunctionincontrollingorganspecificdevelopmentaltimingandrateduringxenopusdevelopment
AT yunboshi thyroidhormonereceptorsubtypespecificfunctionincontrollingorganspecificdevelopmentaltimingandrateduringxenopusdevelopment