Retinoid composition and retinal localization in the eggs of teleost fishes

Retinoids in the eggs of four teleosts, chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), black porgy (Acanthopagrus schlegeli), marbled flounder (Pleuronectes yokohamae), and stingfish (Inimicus japonicus), were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. Retinal (RAL1) or both RAL1 and 3,4-didehydroretinal (RAL2) were major or exclusive retinoids in the eggs of every species examined. In O. keta eggs, both RAL1 and RAL2 were present at the ratio of approximately 3:4, whereas RAL1 was the only retinal in the eggs of the other three marine species. RAL1 was the exclusive retinoid in the eggs of P. yokohamae and I. japonicus, whose eggs lack lipid bodies. In the eggs of O. keta and A. schlegeli, which have lipid bodies, retinylesters were also detected, and retinals composed 69% and 93%, respectively, of total retinoids. In O. keta eggs, retinals were present mostly in the aqueous part and were bound to a protein homologous to lipovitellin 1, an amphibian yolk protein, and retinylesters were located in lipids. These results indicate that retinals are the essential mode of retinoid storage in eggs of teleosts and they are the precursors of functional retinoids, such as retinoic acid and visual pigment chromophores. Retinylesters are additional retinoids that accompany lipid accumulation.