scholarly journals Phenylalanine Hydroxylase RNAi Knockdown Negatively Affects Larval Development, Molting and Swimming Performance of Salmon Lice

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashanna Guragain ◽  
Bjørnar Sporsheim ◽  
Astrid Skjesol ◽  
Anna Solvang Båtnes ◽  
Yngvar Olsen ◽  
...  

Phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) is a crucial enzyme involved in tyrosine biosynthesis, having roles in neurological and physiological processes. The purpose of PAH has received little attention in crustaceans despite extensive investigations in other arthropods. Here, we characterize the PAH gene for the first time in the parasite Lepeophtheirus salmonis, a copepod that is responsible for huge economic losses in salmonid fish farming. Phylogenetic and sequence analyses confirmed that LsPAH is closely related to the metazoan PAH with conserved ACT regulatory and catalytic domains. Temporal expression patterns revealed that LsPAH is expressed throughout all developmental stages peaking during the copepodite stages, suggesting an essential role in developmental physiology. We used RNAi to knockdown LsPAH expression in the nauplius I stage to study developmental function during the larval stages. PAH knockdown impaired larval development, molting and swimming ability with severe morphological defects. This study provides insight into the role of PAH in copepods and demonstrates the importance of this metabolic gene in salmon louse growth and development.

Crustaceana ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Jian Hua Chen ◽  
Meng Jie Wang ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
Hai Hua Wang ◽  
Huan Gao ◽  
...  

Abstract Wnt4 (Wingless-type MMTV integration site family member 4) has been demonstrated to play critical roles in a wide variety of biological processes, including embryonic development, cell proliferation, and differentiation in vertebrates, but its function in crustaceans is still not clear. In the present study, the full-length wnt4 cDNA sequence was cloned and characterized for the ridgetail white prawn Exopalaemon carinicauda. The expression patterns of the wnt4 mRNA in embryos and larvae at different stages were investigated. The tissue distribution showed that wnt4 was obviously expressed in eyestalk and hepatopancreas. During embryonic development, the wnt4 was highly expressed in all developmental stages except the zygote, two-cell stage, and late zoaea stage. The wnt4 mRNA was expressed in Z1-Z5 and post-larval stages. Taken together, the present study indicates that the wnt4 gene may be involved in the regulation of embryonic and larval development in the ridgetail white prawn.


Biologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Grenat ◽  
Lucio Zavala Gallo ◽  
Nancy Salas ◽  
Adolfo Martino

AbstractWe provide the first description of development for a species belonging to Odontophrynus genus by describing all external changes of embryonic and larval stages for Odontophrynus cordobae. External morphological changes through development were analyzed on specimens bred in captivity. Embryonic and larval development, from fertilization to metamorphosis, was completed in 62 days and 46 stages were defined. We split the staging series into ten developmental groups: fertilization (stages 1 and 2); segmentation (stages 3–9); gastrulation (stages 10–12); neurulation (stages 13–16); elongation (stages 17–19); external gill larva (stages 20–24); internal gill larva (stage 25); pre-metamorphosis (stages 26–41); pro-metamorphosis (stage 42); metamorphic climax (stages 43–46). Marked increases in total length were evidenced during elongation and during stage 25, when the tadpole begins to feed. Stage 25 was the longest one (8 days) and it was related to organs rearrangement, morphological progression and body mass increment typical of free life larval form. Similar studies on related species are needed to compare different developmental stages at different taxonomic levels.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludwik Gąsiorowski ◽  
Andreas Hejnol

AbstractBackgroundPhoronida is a small group of marine worm-like suspension feeders, which together with brachiopods and bryozoans form the clade Lophophorata. Although their development is well studied on the morphological level, data regarding gene expression during this process are scarce and restricted to the analysis of relatively few transcription factors. Here we present a description of the expression patterns of Hox genes during the embryonic and larval development of the phoronid Phoronopsis harmeri.ResultsWe identified sequences of 8 Hox genes in the transcriptome of P. harmeri and determined their expression pattern during embryonic and larval development using whole mount in situ hybridization. We found that none of the Hox genes is expressed during embryonic development. Instead their expression is initiated in the later developmental stages, when the larval body is already formed. The Hox genes are expressed in the metasomal sac, posterior mesoderm and junction between midgut and hindgut - structures that represent rudiments of the adult worm, which emerges through the process of drastic metamorphosis. Additionally, two Hox genes are expressed in the posterior telotroch, which develops in the later larval stages.ConclusionsThe lack of Hox gene expression during early development of P. harmeri indicates that the larval body develops without positional information of the Hox patterning system. Such phenomenon might be a consequence of the evolutionary intercalation of the larval form into an ancestral, direct life cycle of phoronids. Accordingly, the specific actinotrocha larva found only in Phoronida, would represent an evolutionary novelty, for which an alternative molecular mechanism of antrerior-posterior patterning was recruited. Another explanation of the observed Hox gene expression is that the actinotrocha represents a “head larva”, which is composed of the most anterior body region that is devoid of Hox gene expression. This implies that the Hox patterning system is used for the positional information of the trunk rudiments and is, therefore, delayed to the later larval stages. Future investigation on head-specific genes expression is needed to test this hypothesis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weijie Yan ◽  
Yingjie Qiao ◽  
Jiangbo Qu ◽  
Xiumei Liu ◽  
Quanqi Zhang ◽  
...  

Heat shock proteins (hsps) are cellular chaperones that are involved in developmental stages and stress responses. Hsp40 is the major subfamily of hsps, but has not been fully characterized in Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), especially their roles in immune response. In this study, a comprehensive identification and analysis of hsp40 in flounder is presented, including gene structures, evolutionary relationships, conserved domains, molecular evolution analysis, and expression patterns. Sequence features and phylogenetic analysis revealed that hsp40 genes could be grouped into 40 distinct subfamilies and most of them (96%) in Japanese flounder possessed no less than two introns. Molecular evolution analysis indicated that the hsp40 genes were conservative during evolution and were functional-constrained. Meanwhile, hsp40 genes were found to express in different embryonic and larval stages and might play the role of sentinel in healthy organisms. Furthermore, hsp40 genes’ expression profiles after Edwardsiella tarda injection were determined in Japanese flounder without precedent, and 88% (44/50) of hsp40 genes showed differential expression patterns after bacterial challenge. Our findings provide basic and useful resources for understanding the immune responsibilities of hsp40 genes in flatfish.


A study has been made of the interrelations between rhythmical exopodite beating in different larval stages and swimmeret beating in poast-larval stages of the lobster Homarus gammarus . Data on exopodite beat cycle durations have been used for statistical comparisons of exopodite performance within one larva, and also between different stages of larval development. Inter-exopodite comparisons reveal clear bilateral differences (table 1), although there is no consistently favoured relationship (tables 2 and 3). There are significant differences in cycle duration between the first three developmental stages, with a slight increase at the first moult, and a marked decrease at the second (table 4). However, within each stage the repeat frequency exhibits little change (table 5). Therefore it appears that changes in swimming behaviour occur discontinuously in development, and are associated with the larval moults. It is suggested that changes in beat frequency, and especially the faster beating in stage III, may represent responses to changed loading conditions (table 7). Measurements of swimmeret beating in post-larval lobsters have been analysed in terms of cycle durations, and inter- and intra-segmental phase relations. Swimmeret beating patterns are very regular (figure 1), but not restricted to a narrow range of frequencies (table 6 a ).Intersegmental phase lag remains constant around 0.2 (figure 3) independent of beat frequency (figure 4). Similarly the powerstroke/returnstroke ratio of approximately 0.5 (figure 5) shows no significant correlation with cycle duration (figure 6). Differences emerge in the performance of larval exopodites and post-larval swimmerets (table 6 b ), although the possibility cannot be excluded that the larval exopodite oscillator in some way influences the developing action of the post-larval swimmeret system.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 776
Author(s):  
Shipra Kumari ◽  
Bashistha Kumar Kanth ◽  
Ju young Ahn ◽  
Jong Hwa Kim ◽  
Geung-Joo Lee

Genome-wide transcriptome analysis using RNA-Seq of Lilium longiflorum revealed valuable genes responding to biotic stresses. WRKY transcription factors are regulatory proteins playing essential roles in defense processes under environmental stresses, causing considerable losses in flower quality and production. Thirty-eight WRKY genes were identified from the transcriptomic profile from lily genotypes, exhibiting leaf blight caused by Botrytis elliptica. Lily WRKYs have a highly conserved motif, WRKYGQK, with a common variant, WRKYGKK. Phylogeny of LlWRKYs with homologous genes from other representative plant species classified them into three groups- I, II, and III consisting of seven, 22, and nine genes, respectively. Base on functional annotation, 22 LlWRKY genes were associated with biotic stress, nine with abiotic stress, and seven with others. Sixteen unique LlWRKY were studied to investigate responses to stress conditions using gene expression under biotic and abiotic stress treatments. Five genes—LlWRKY3, LlWRKY4, LlWRKY5, LlWRKY10, and LlWRKY12—were substantially upregulated, proving to be biotic stress-responsive genes in vivo and in vitro conditions. Moreover, the expression patterns of LlWRKY genes varied in response to drought, heat, cold, and different developmental stages or tissues. Overall, our study provides structural and molecular insights into LlWRKY genes for use in the genetic engineering in Lilium against Botrytis disease.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliki Xanthopoulou ◽  
Javier Montero-Pau ◽  
Belén Picó ◽  
Panagiotis Boumpas ◽  
Eleni Tsaliki ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo: Cucurbitaceae) are a popular horticultural crop for which there is insufficient genomic and transcriptomic information. Gene expression atlases are crucial for the identification of genes expressed in different tissues at various plant developmental stages. Here, we present the first comprehensive gene expression atlas for a summer squash cultivar, including transcripts obtained from seeds, shoots, leaf stem, young and developed leaves, male and female flowers, fruits of seven developmental stages, as well as primary and lateral roots. Results In total, 27,868 genes and 2352 novel transcripts were annotated from these 16 tissues, with over 18,000 genes common to all tissue groups. Of these, 3812 were identified as housekeeping genes, half of which assigned to known gene ontologies. Flowers, seeds, and young fruits had the largest number of specific genes, whilst intermediate-age fruits the fewest. There also were genes that were differentially expressed in the various tissues, the male flower being the tissue with the most differentially expressed genes in pair-wise comparisons with the remaining tissues, and the leaf stem the least. The largest expression change during fruit development was early on, from female flower to fruit two days after pollination. A weighted correlation network analysis performed on the global gene expression dataset assigned 25,413 genes to 24 coexpression groups, and some of these groups exhibited strong tissue specificity. Conclusions These findings enrich our understanding about the transcriptomic events associated with summer squash development and ripening. This comprehensive gene expression atlas is expected not only to provide a global view of gene expression patterns in all major tissues in C. pepo but to also serve as a valuable resource for functional genomics and gene discovery in Cucurbitaceae.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadhana Singh ◽  
Himabindu Kudapa ◽  
Vanika Garg ◽  
Rajeev K. Varshney

Abstract Background Chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut are the primary legume crops of semi-arid tropics (SAT) and their global productivity is severely affected by drought stress. The plant-specific NAC (NAM - no apical meristem, ATAF - Arabidopsis transcription activation factor, and CUC - cup-shaped cotyledon) transcription factor family is known to be involved in majority of abiotic stresses, especially in the drought stress tolerance mechanism. Despite the knowledge available regarding NAC function, not much information is available on NAC genes in SAT legume crops. Results In this study, genome-wide NAC proteins – 72, 96, and 166 have been identified from the genomes of chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut, respectively, and later grouped into 10 clusters in chickpea and pigeonpea, while 12 clusters in groundnut. Phylogeny with well-known stress-responsive NACs in Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa (rice), Medicago truncatula, and Glycine max (soybean) enabled prediction of putative stress-responsive NACs in chickpea (22), pigeonpea (31), and groundnut (33). Transcriptome data revealed putative stress-responsive NACs at various developmental stages that showed differential expression patterns in the different tissues studied. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to validate the expression patterns of selected stress-responsive, Ca_NAC (Cicer arietinum - 14), Cc_NAC (Cajanus cajan - 15), and Ah_NAC (Arachis hypogaea - 14) genes using drought-stressed and well-watered root tissues from two contrasting drought-responsive genotypes of each of the three legumes. Based on expression analysis, Ca_06899, Ca_18090, Ca_22941, Ca_04337, Ca_04069, Ca_04233, Ca_12660, Ca_16379, Ca_16946, and Ca_21186; Cc_26125, Cc_43030, Cc_43785, Cc_43786, Cc_22429, and Cc_22430; Ah_ann1.G1V3KR.2, Ah_ann1.MI72XM.2, Ah_ann1.V0X4SV.1, Ah_ann1.FU1JML.2, and Ah_ann1.8AKD3R.1 were identified as potential drought stress-responsive candidate genes. Conclusion As NAC genes are known to play role in several physiological and biological activities, a more comprehensive study on genome-wide identification and expression analyses of the NAC proteins have been carried out in chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut. We have identified a total of 21 potential drought-responsive NAC genes in these legumes. These genes displayed correlation between gene expression, transcriptional regulation, and better tolerance against drought. The identified candidate genes, after validation, may serve as a useful resource for molecular breeding for drought tolerance in the SAT legume crops.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 3235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanguo Ke ◽  
Farhat Abbas ◽  
Yiwei Zhou ◽  
Rangcai Yu ◽  
Yuechong Yue ◽  
...  

Auxin plays a key role in different plant growth and development processes, including flower opening and development. The perception and signaling of auxin depend on the cooperative action of various components, among which auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA) proteins play an imperative role. In a recent study, the entire Aux/IAA gene family was identified and comprehensively analyzed in Hedychium coronarium, a scented species used as an ornamental plant for cut flowers. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the Aux/IAA gene family in H. coronarium is slightly contracted compared to Arabidopsis, with low levels of non-canonical proteins. Sequence analysis of promoters showed numerous cis-regulatory elements related to various phytohormones. HcIAA genes showed distinct expression patterns in different tissues and flower developmental stages, and some HcIAA genes showed significant responses to auxin and ethylene, indicating that Aux/IAAs may play an important role in linking hormone signaling pathways. Based on the expression profiles, HcIAA2, HcIAA4, HcIAA6 and HcIAA12, were selected as candidate genes and HcIAA2 and HcIAA4 were screened for further characterization. Downregulation of HcIAA2 and HcIAA4 by virus-induced gene silencing in H. coronarium flowers modified the total volatile compound content, suggesting that HcIAA2 and HcIAA4 play important roles in H. coronarium floral scent formation. The results presented here will provide insights into the putative roles of HcIAA genes and will assist the elucidation of their precise roles during floral scent formation.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuo Wei ◽  
Wen Zhang ◽  
Rao Fu ◽  
Yang Zhang

Abstract Background 2-Oxoglutarate and Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenases (2ODDs) belong to the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (2OGD) superfamily and are involved in various vital metabolic pathways of plants at different developmental stages. These proteins have been extensively investigated in multiple model organisms. However, these enzymes have not been systematically analyzed in tomato. In addition, type I flavone synthase (FNSI) belongs to the 2ODD family and contributes to the biosynthesis of flavones, but this protein has not been characterized in tomato. Results A total of 131 2ODDs from tomato were identified and divided into seven clades by phylogenetic classification. The Sl2ODDs in the same clade showed similar intron/exon distributions and conserved motifs. The Sl2ODDs were unevenly distributed across the 12 chromosomes, with different expression patterns among major tissues and at different developmental stages of the tomato growth cycle. We characterized several Sl2ODDs and their expression patterns involved in various metabolic pathways, such as gibberellin biosynthesis and catabolism, ethylene biosynthesis, steroidal glycoalkaloid biosynthesis, and flavonoid metabolism. We found that the Sl2ODD expression patterns were consistent with their functions during the tomato growth cycle. These results indicated the significance of Sl2ODDs in tomato growth and metabolism. Based on this genome-wide analysis of Sl2ODDs, we screened six potential FNSI genes using a phylogenetic tree and coexpression analysis. However, none of them exhibited FNSI activity. Conclusions Our study provided a comprehensive understanding of the tomato 2ODD family and demonstrated the significant roles of these family members in plant metabolism. We also suggest that no FNSI genes in tomato contribute to the biosynthesis of flavones.


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