■许多海洋生物具有双相生命周期,该生命周期在具有更久坐的成虫形式的游泳幼虫之间过渡。在第一阶段结束时,幼虫必须确定合适的位置来定居并经历巨大的形态变化。环境因素,包括光和化学线索,似乎会影响沉降,但是所涉及的感官受体在很大程度上是未知的。我们靶向蛋白质受体,视蛋白,它属于检测环境刺激的跨膜受体超家族,荷尔蒙,和神经递质。虽然视蛋白以光感应而闻名,包括视觉,越来越多的研究证明了与光无关的功能。因此,我们检查了翼虫中的视蛋白表达,一个大的,海洋双壳类动物的多样化进化枝,包括商业上重要的物种,比如牡蛎,贻贝,还有扇贝.
■基因组注释结合系统发育分析显示,翼状双壳类动物的视蛋白丰度差异很大,包括许多成年时没有眼睛的物种中惊人的高基因组丰度,如贻贝。因此,我们从幼虫发育的角度研究了视蛋白表达的多样性。我们收集了四个翼虫家族的视蛋白基因表达,在三个不同的幼虫阶段,即,throchophore,Veliger,和pediveliger,并将其与成人组织进行比较。
■我们发现幼虫在这些双壳类动物中表达所有视蛋白类型,但是视蛋白的表达模式在整个发育过程中很大程度上是物种特异性的。很少有视蛋白在成年地幔中表达,但许多人在成人眼中表现得很高。有趣的是,视蛋白基因,如视网膜色素,xenopsins,和Go-视蛋白在后期幼虫阶段具有更高的表达水平,比如pediveliger.
■调查幼虫发育过程中的视蛋白基因表达为其与周围环境的复杂相互作用提供了至关重要的见解,这可能揭示了这些生物体的视蛋白受体如何对在其定居过程中起关键作用的各种环境线索做出反应。
UNASSIGNED: Many marine organisms have a biphasic life cycle that transitions between a swimming larva with a more sedentary adult form. At the end of the first phase, larvae must identify suitable sites to settle and undergo a dramatic morphological change. Environmental factors, including photic and chemical cues, appear to influence settlement, but the sensory receptors involved are largely unknown. We targeted the protein receptor, opsin, which belongs to large superfamily of transmembrane receptors that detects environmental stimuli, hormones, and neurotransmitters. While opsins are well-known for light-sensing, including vision, a growing number of studies have demonstrated light-independent functions. We therefore examined opsin expression in the Pteriomorphia, a large, diverse clade of marine bivalves, that includes commercially important species, such as oysters, mussels, and scallops.
UNASSIGNED: Genomic annotations combined with phylogenetic analysis show great variation of opsin abundance among pteriomorphian bivalves, including surprisingly high genomic abundance in many species that are eyeless as adults, such as mussels. Therefore, we investigated the diversity of opsin expression from the perspective of larval development. We collected opsin gene expression in four families of Pteriomorphia, across three distinct larval stages, i.e., trochophore, veliger, and pediveliger, and compared those to adult tissues.
UNASSIGNED: We found larvae express all opsin types in these bivalves, but opsin expression patterns are largely species-specific across development. Few opsins are expressed in the adult mantle, but many are highly expressed in adult eyes. Intriguingly, opsin genes such as retinochrome, xenopsins, and Go-opsins have higher levels of expression in the later larval stages when substrates for settlement are being tested, such as the pediveliger.
UNASSIGNED: Investigating opsin gene expression during larval development provides crucial insights into their intricate interactions with the surroundings, which may shed light on how opsin receptors of these organisms respond to various environmental cues that play a pivotal role in their settlement process.