Environmental tuning of thyroid hormone signaling drives developmental plasticity
Abstract
Vertebrate developmental transitions unfold in environments increasingly altered by global change. Thyroid hormones, a deeply conserved endocrine axis, coordinate post-embryonic transformations, yet the effects of natural ecological variation on this signaling remain largely unexplored—despite their potential to shape developmental plasticity and acclimation to local environments. To address this, we investigated a common reef fish ( Acanthurus triostegus ), which undergoes a thyroid-dependent metamorphosis during settlement into coastal nurseries. By combining transcriptomic, hormonal, and metabolic profiling across distinct natural habitats, we show that settlement triggers a profound reprogramming of energy metabolism, tightly coupled to thyroid signaling. Strikingly, the magnitude and direction of thyroid hormone regulation varied with habitat, producing divergent metabolic and physiological states. These results demonstrate that thyroid hormones act not only as a developmental timer but as a dynamic integrator of environment and physiology. More broadly, they reveal a conserved mechanism of vertebrate developmental plasticity, highlighting endocrine flexibility as a potential buffer of population resilience under rapid environmental change.
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BibTeX
@article{herrera2026environmental,
title = {{Environmental tuning of thyroid hormone signaling drives developmental plasticity}},
author = {Marcela Herrera and Saori Miura and Zoé Chamot and Mathieu Reynaud and Emma Gairin and Roger Huerlimann and Timothy Ravasi and Laurence Besseau and Yann Gibert and David Lecchini and Vincent Laudet},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aec5359},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05764346v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Environmental tuning of thyroid hormone signaling drives developmental plasticity
AU - Marcela Herrera
AU - Saori Miura
AU - Zoé Chamot
AU - Mathieu Reynaud
AU - Emma Gairin
AU - Roger Huerlimann
AU - Timothy Ravasi
AU - Laurence Besseau
AU - Yann Gibert
AU - David Lecchini
AU - Vincent Laudet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/07
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aec5359
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05764346v1
AB - Vertebrate developmental transitions unfold in environments increasingly altered by global change. Thyroid hormones, a deeply conserved endocrine axis, coordinate post-embryonic transformations, yet the effects of natural ecological variation on this signaling remain largely unexplored—despite their potential to shape developmental plasticity and acclimation to local environments. To address this, we investigated a common reef fish ( Acanthurus triostegus ), which undergoes a thyroid-dependent metamorphosis during settlement into coastal nurseries. By combining transcriptomic, hormonal, and metabolic profiling across distinct natural habitats, we show that settlement triggers a profound reprogramming of energy metabolism, tightly coupled to thyroid signaling. Strikingly, the magnitude and direction of thyroid hormone regulation varied with habitat, producing divergent metabolic and physiological states. These results demonstrate that thyroid hormones act not only as a developmental timer but as a dynamic integrator of environment and physiology. More broadly, they reveal a conserved mechanism of vertebrate developmental plasticity, highlighting endocrine flexibility as a potential buffer of population resilience under rapid environmental change.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -