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Eggshell appearance does not signal maternal corticosterone exposure in Japanese quail: an experimental study with brown-spotted eggs.

ABSTRACT: Reproduction is a critical period for birds as they have to cope with many stressful events. One consequence of an acute exposure to stress is the release of corticosterone, the avian stress hormone. Prolonged stress can have negative impacts on the immune system, resulting in, for example, increased oxidative stress. Through maternal effects, females are known to modulate their investment in eggs content according to their own physiological condition. Less is known about maternal investment in eggshells, especially in pigments. The two main eggshell pigments may possess opposite antioxidant properties: protoporphyrin (brown) is a pro-oxidant, whereas biliverdin (blue-green) is an antioxidant. In Japanese quail, we know that the deposition of both pigments is related to female body condition. Thus, a chronic stress response may be reflected in eggshell coloration. Using female Japanese quails that lay brown-spotted eggs, we explored whether physiological exposure to corticosterone induces a change in female basal stress and antioxidant factors, and eggshell pigment concentration, spectrophotometric reflectance, and maculation coverage. We supplemented adult females over a 2 week period with either peanut oil (control) or corticosterone (treatment). We collected pre- and post-supplementation eggs and analysed the effect of corticosterone treatment on female physiology and eggshell appearance parameters. Except for corticosterone-fed birds which laid eggs with brighter spots, supplementation had no significant effect on female physiology or eggshell pigment concentration, reflectance and maculation. The change in eggshell spot brightness was not detected by a photoreceptor noise-limited color opponent model of avian visual perception. Our data confirms that eggshell reflectance in spotted eggs varies over the laying sequence, and spot reflectance may be a key factor that is affected by females CORT exposure, even if the changes are not detected by an avian visual model.

SUBMITTER: Duval C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3848978 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundEggshell mineralization in commercially important species such as chicken, turkey or quail is of interest as a general model of calcium carbonate biomineralization. Knowledge of proteins and molecular mechanisms in eggshell assembly may also pave the way to manipulation of thickness of the calcified layer or other features. Comparison of eggshell matrix proteomes of different species may contribute to a better understanding of the mineralization process. The recent publication of the quail genome sequence now enables the proteomic analysis of the quail shell matrix and this comparison with those of chicken and turkey.ResultsThe quail eggshell proteome comprised 622 identified proteins, 311 of which were shared with chicken and turkey eggshell proteomes. Forty-eight major proteins (iBAQ-derived abundance higher than 0.1 % of total identified proteome) together covered 94 % of total proteome mass. Fifteen of these are also among the most abundant proteins in chicken and turkey eggshell matrix. Only three proteins with a percentage higher than 1.0 % of the total had not previously been identified as eggshell matrix proteins. These were an uncharacterized member of the latexin family, an uncharacterized protease inhibitor containing a Kunitz domain, and gastric intrinsic factor. The most abundant proteins were ovocleidin-116, ovalbumin and ovocalyxin-36 representing approximately 31, 13 and 8 % of the total identified proteome, respectively. The major phosphoproteins were ovocleidin-116 and osteopontin. While osteopontin phosphorylation sites were predominantly conserved between chicken and quail sequences, conservation was less in ovocleidin-116.ConclusionsOvocleidin-116 and ovocalyxin-36 are among the most abundant eggshell matrix proteins in all three species of the family Phasianidae analyzed so far, indicating that their presently unknown function is essential for eggshell mineralization. Evidence for other chicken eggshell-specific proteins in quail was inconclusive. Therefore measurement of additional eggshell proteomes, especially from species of different families and preferentially from outside the order Galliformes, will be necessary.

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Eggshell appearance does not signal maternal corticosterone exposure in Japanese quail: an experimental study with brown-spotted eggs.

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