Abstract
Apoptosis and autophagy are fundamental mechanisms of programed cell death activated during protostome and deuterostome embryonic development, contributing to the creation and remodeling of different anatomical structures. Programed cell death has been investigated at morphological and biochemical levels, but there is a lack of information concerning gene expression of death factors during deuterostome embryonic development. In this study, we analyze the expression patterns of 13 genes involved in autophagy, extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis during blastula, gastrula, and pluteus stages of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus embryonic development. Results suggested the occurrence of all death mechanisms investigated, highlighting the simultaneous involvement of apoptosis and autophagy during embryonic development. In particular, gastrula was the developmental stage where the majority of death genes were highly expressed. During gastrulation apoptotic processes are fundamental for tissue remodeling, such as cavity formation and removal of inner ectodermal cells. This is the first report that identifies a panel of cell death genes in the P. lividus genome and analyzes their expression variations during ontogenesis.
Highlights
Apoptosis is a widespread mechanism of programed cell death (PCD), which is considered a fundamental prerequisite for several processes including normal cell turnover, functioning of the immune system, and elimination of cells carrying DNA aberrations
The presence of factors with a key role in cell death signaling pathways, such as autophagy, extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis, in the P. lividus genome was analyzed through a bioinformatics approach
Amino acid sequences of death factors, such as tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNFRs), FAS, TRADD, AIFM1, BCL2, BAX, PINK, BID, PARP, and members of RIPK and Unc-51 Like Autophagy Activating Kinases (ULKs) families, from H. sapiens, S. purpuratus, and other deuterostomes were used as query for the TBlastN and BlastP analysis
Summary
Apoptosis is a widespread mechanism of programed cell death (PCD), which is considered a fundamental prerequisite for several processes including normal cell turnover, functioning of the immune system, and elimination of cells carrying DNA aberrations. Most of what is known on apoptosis derives from the study of PCD occurring at specific stages of Caenorhabditis elegans development (Horvitz 1999) This organism generates 1,090 somatic cells during the formation of the adult worm, but 131 of these cells undergo apoptosis. These 131 cells die through activation of apoptosis in a specific stage, which is common in worms, demonstrating the high accuracy and conservation of this mechanism (Elmore 2007). Different extracellular stimuli induce mitochondrial changes, with activation of intrinsic apoptosis, which is characterized by the formation of an apoptosome and subsequently the activation of the Casp (Elmore 2007)
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