Novel protein from larval sponge cells, ilborin, is related to energy turnover and calcium binding and is conserved among marine invertebrates

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are early-branching animals, whose outwardly simple body plan is underlain by a complex genetic repertoire. The transition from a mobile larva to an attached filter-feeding organism occurs by metamorphosis, a process accompanied by a radical change of the body plan and cell transdifferentiation. The continuity between larval cells and adult tissues is still obscure. In a previous study, we have produced polyclonal antibodies against the major protein of the flagellated cells covering the larva of the sponge Halisarca dujardini, used them to trace the fate of these cells and shown that the larval flagellated cells transdifferentiate into the choanocytes. In the present work, we identified the sequence of this novel protein, which we named ilborin. A search in the open databases showed that multiple orthologues of the newly identified protein are present in sponges, cnidarians, flatworms, ctenophores and echinoderms, but none of them has been described yet. Ilborin has two conserved domains: triosephosphate isomerase-barrel, which has enzymatic activity against macroergic compounds, and canonical EF-hand, which binds calcium. mRNA of ilborin is expressed in the larval flagellated cells. We suggest that the new protein is involved in the calcium-mediated regulation of energy metabolism, whose activation precedes metamorphosis.