Retinal in the Eggs of Phylum Chordata: A Novel Storage Mode of Retinoid

The presence of retinals (retinal and 3,4-didehydroretinal) has been known in the eggs of wide range of oviparous vertebrates, but the biological significance of the egg retinals has yet to be clarified. We here show that retinals are the major components of retinoids in the eggs of all species of chordate animals we examined. The egg retinals were commonly bound to egg yolk proteins, the storage proteins, via a Schiff base linkage. The Schiff base linkage, which protects the reactive aldehyde group, would negate the toxicity of aldehyde, and enable to accumulate much amount of retinals. The retinals in chordate eggs are considered to be the precursor of functional retinoids, such as photoreceptive pigment chromophores and retinoic acid, during development. The results of the present research strongly suggest that retinals in the eggs of oviparous chordates are the common and essential mode of retinoid storage.