Identification of the molecular components of a Tigriopus californicus (Crustacea, Copepoda) circadian clock

Abstract

Copepods of the genus Tigriopus have been proposed as marine models for investigations of environmental perturbation. One rapidly increasing anthropogenic stressor for intertidal organisms is light pollution. Given the sensitivity of circadian rhythms to exogenous light, the genes/proteins of a Tigriopus circadian pacemaker represent a potential system for investigating the influences of artificial light sources on circadian behavior in an intertidal species. Here, the molecular components of a putative Tigriopus californicus circadian clock were identified using publicly accessible transcriptome data; the recently deduced circadian proteins of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus were used as a reference. Transcripts encoding homologs of all commonly recognized ancestral arthropod core clock proteins were identified (i.e. CLOCK, CRYPTOCHROME 2, CYCLE, PERIOD and TIMELESS), as were ones encoding proteins likely to modulate the core clock (i.e. CASEIN KINASE II, CLOCKWORK ORANGE, DOUBLETIME, PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE 1, PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE 2A, SHAGGY, SUPERNUMERARY LIMBS and VRILLE) or to act as inputs to it (i.e. CRYPTOCHROME 1). PAR DOMAIN PROTEIN 1 was the only circadian-associated protein not identified in Tigriopus; it appears absent in Calanus too. These data represent just the third full set of molecular components for a crustacean circadian pacemaker (Daphnia pulex and C. finmarchicus previously), and only the second obtained from transcribed sequences (C. finmarchicus previously). Given Tigriopus' proposed status as a model for investigating the influences of anthropogenic stressors in the marine environment, these data provide the first suite of gene/protein targets for understanding how light pollution may influence circadian physiology and behavior in an intertidal organism.