Abstract
Modelling of human aging, age-related memory loss, and neurodegenerative diseases has developed into a progressive area in invertebrate neuroscience. Gold standard molluscan neuroscience models such as the sea hare (Aplysia californica) and the great pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis) have proven to be attractive alternatives for studying these processes. Until now, A. californica has been the workhorse due to the enormous set of publicly available transcriptome and genome data. However, with growing sequence data, L. stagnalis has started to catch up with A. californica in this respect. To contribute to this and inspire researchers to use molluscan species for modelling normal biological aging and/or neurodegenerative diseases, we sequenced the whole transcriptome of the central nervous system of L. stagnalis and screened for the evolutionary conserved homolog sequences involved in aging and neurodegenerative/other diseases. Several relevant molecules were identified, including for example gelsolin, presenilin, huntingtin, Parkinson disease protein 7/Protein deglycase DJ-1, and amyloid precursor protein, thus providing a stable genetic background for L. stagnalis in this field. Our study supports the notion that molluscan species are highly suitable for studying molecular, cellular, and circuit mechanisms of the mentioned neurophysiological and neuropathological processes.
Highlights
Neuroscience research has been using molluscan species since the 1950s, when neuroscientists such as Nobel Prize laurates Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley and Eric Kandel recognized how useful they can be in answering fundamental neurobiological questions
Our screening resulted in a high number of evolutionary conserved sequences in L. stagnalis involved in human aging, age-related memory loss, and neurodegenerative/ other diseases (Table 1, for sequence data see Supplementary Figure 1)
L. stagnalis findings to genes linked to human aging/disease-related genes
Summary
Neuroscience research has been using molluscan species since the 1950s, when neuroscientists such as Nobel Prize laurates Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley and Eric Kandel recognized how useful they can be in answering fundamental neurobiological questions. They were used for examining the neuronal processes from molecular signalling through motor pattern generation to behavior, including learning (Crossley et al 2019; Kandel 2001; Kemenes and Benjamin 2009; Kupfermann and Kandel 1969; Nikitin et al 2008; Pirger et al 2010, 2014a; Rivi et al 2020; Wachtel and Kandel 1967). Their central nervous system (CNS) has a relatively simple organization with a small number of neurons (~ 10,000 in A. californica and ~ 25,000 in L. stagnalis). These colored, mostly largesized (~ 50–100 μm) cells are located on the surface of the
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