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Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans

BACKGROUND: Exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans can be attributed to mineralization and sclerotization of the organic matrix. Glycoproteins have been implicated in the calcification process of many matrices. Sclerotization, on the other hand, is catalysed by phenoloxidases, which also play a role i...

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Autores principales: Kuballa, Anna V, Elizur, Abigail
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2612702/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19040762
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-9-575
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author Kuballa, Anna V
Elizur, Abigail
author_facet Kuballa, Anna V
Elizur, Abigail
author_sort Kuballa, Anna V
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans can be attributed to mineralization and sclerotization of the organic matrix. Glycoproteins have been implicated in the calcification process of many matrices. Sclerotization, on the other hand, is catalysed by phenoloxidases, which also play a role in melanization and the immunological response in arthropods. Custom cDNA microarrays from Portunus pelagicus were used to identify genes possibly associated with the activation pathways involved in these processes. RESULTS: Two genes potentially involved in the recognition of glycosylation, the C-type lectin receptor and the mannose-binding protein, were found to display molt cycle-related differential expression profiles. C-type lectin receptor up-regulation was found to coincide with periods associated with new uncalcified cuticle formation, while the up-regulation of mannose-binding protein occurred only in the post-molt stage, during which calcification takes place, implicating both in the regulation of calcification. Genes presumed to be involved in the phenoloxidase activation pathway that facilitates sclerotization also displayed molt cycle-related differential expression profiles. Members of the serine protease superfamily, trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like, were up-regulated in the intermolt stage when compared to post-molt, while trypsin-like was also up-regulated in pre-molt compared to ecdysis. Additionally, up-regulation in pre- and intermolt stages was observed by transcripts encoding other phenoloxidase activators including the putative antibacterial protein carcinin-like, and clotting protein precursor-like. Furthermore, hemocyanin, itself with phenoloxidase activity, displayed an identical expression pattern to that of the phenoloxidase activators, i.e. up-regulation in pre- and intermolt. CONCLUSION: Cuticle hardening in crustaceans is a complex process that is precisely timed to occur in the post-molt stage of the molt cycle. We have identified differential expression patterns of several genes that are believed to be involved in biomineralization and sclerotization and propose possible regulatory mechanisms for these processes based on their expression profiles, such as the potential involvement of C-type lectin receptors and mannose binding protein in the regulation of calcification.
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spelling pubmed-26127022008-12-31 Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans Kuballa, Anna V Elizur, Abigail BMC Genomics Research Article BACKGROUND: Exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans can be attributed to mineralization and sclerotization of the organic matrix. Glycoproteins have been implicated in the calcification process of many matrices. Sclerotization, on the other hand, is catalysed by phenoloxidases, which also play a role in melanization and the immunological response in arthropods. Custom cDNA microarrays from Portunus pelagicus were used to identify genes possibly associated with the activation pathways involved in these processes. RESULTS: Two genes potentially involved in the recognition of glycosylation, the C-type lectin receptor and the mannose-binding protein, were found to display molt cycle-related differential expression profiles. C-type lectin receptor up-regulation was found to coincide with periods associated with new uncalcified cuticle formation, while the up-regulation of mannose-binding protein occurred only in the post-molt stage, during which calcification takes place, implicating both in the regulation of calcification. Genes presumed to be involved in the phenoloxidase activation pathway that facilitates sclerotization also displayed molt cycle-related differential expression profiles. Members of the serine protease superfamily, trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like, were up-regulated in the intermolt stage when compared to post-molt, while trypsin-like was also up-regulated in pre-molt compared to ecdysis. Additionally, up-regulation in pre- and intermolt stages was observed by transcripts encoding other phenoloxidase activators including the putative antibacterial protein carcinin-like, and clotting protein precursor-like. Furthermore, hemocyanin, itself with phenoloxidase activity, displayed an identical expression pattern to that of the phenoloxidase activators, i.e. up-regulation in pre- and intermolt. CONCLUSION: Cuticle hardening in crustaceans is a complex process that is precisely timed to occur in the post-molt stage of the molt cycle. We have identified differential expression patterns of several genes that are believed to be involved in biomineralization and sclerotization and propose possible regulatory mechanisms for these processes based on their expression profiles, such as the potential involvement of C-type lectin receptors and mannose binding protein in the regulation of calcification. BioMed Central 2008-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC2612702/ /pubmed/19040762 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-9-575 Text en Copyright © 2008 Kuballa and Elizur; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kuballa, Anna V
Elizur, Abigail
Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans
title Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans
title_full Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans
title_fullStr Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans
title_full_unstemmed Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans
title_short Differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans
title_sort differential expression profiling of components associated with exoskeletal hardening in crustaceans
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2612702/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19040762
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-9-575
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