Abstract
We studied the diel expression pattern of PAX6 (a structural gene that is commonly involved in the eye development and photoreception of eye forming animals) and the effects of light and covering behavior on PAX6 expression in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius. We confirmed that aphotic condition significantly reduced covering behavior in S. intermedius. The diel expression pattern of PAX6 was significantly different in S. intermedius under photic and aphotic conditions. The gene expression of PAX6 significantly deceased in covered S. intermedius both under natural light and in darkness. The present finding provides valuable insight into the probable link between covering and PAX6 expression of sea urchins. Further studies are required to investigate the detailed expression network of light detection involved genes in order to fully reveal the molecular mechanism of the light-induced covering behavior of sea urchins.
Highlights
The sea urchin is good model for studying the mechanisms of light detection and light-induced behavioral and physiological responses of animals that lack specialized eyes [1]
Diel patterns of gene expression of PAX6 were significantly different between the S. intermedius under natural light and dark conditions (P,0.001, Fig. 2)
As PAX6 is a direct regulator of the expression of opsin genes in many species [14], a reasonable explanation for the diel pattern of PAX6 expression is that it translates into the regulation of opsin genes, we did not measure the expressions of opsin genes in the present study
Summary
The sea urchin is good model for studying the mechanisms of light detection and light-induced behavioral and physiological responses of animals that lack specialized eyes [1]. It had remained poorly understood until the genome data of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus surprisingly revealed more opsin genes and typical ‘‘eye’’ genes (for example, PAX6) than previously thought [2]. Lesser et al (2011) [4] reported that gene expression of the rhabdomericlike opsin in the tube feet was significantly different from different areas of the test of S. droebachiensis. This greatly hampers our understanding of the complex biological functions of relevant genes in PRCs
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