Thyroid hormone coordinates developmental trajectories but does not underlie developmental truncation in danionins

Differences in postembryonic developmental trajectories can profoundly alter adult phenotypes and life histories. Thyroid hormone (TH) regulates metamorphosis in many vertebrate taxa with multiphasic ecologies, and alterations to TH metabolism underlie notable cases of paedomorphosis in amphibians. We tested the requirement for TH in multiple postembryonic developmental processes in zebrafish, which has a monophasic ecology, and asked if TH production was compromised in paedomorphic Danionella.

We showed that TH regulates allometric growth in juvenile zebrafish, and inhibits relative head growth. The lateral line system showed differential requirements for TH: the hormone promotes canal neuromast formation and inhibits neuromast proliferation in the head, but causes expansion of the neuromast population in the trunk. While Danionella morphology resembled that of larval zebrafish, the two Danionella species analyzed were not similar to hypothyroid zebrafish in their shape or neuromast distribution, and both possessed functional thyroid follicles.

Although zebrafish do not undergo a discrete ecological transformation, we found that multiple tissues undergo transitions in developmental trajectories that are dependent on TH, suggesting the TH axis and its downstream pathways as likely targets for adaptation. Nonetheless, we found no evidence that evolutionary paedomorphosis in Danionella is the result of compromised TH production.