Identifying Neuropeptide and G Protein-Coupled Receptors of Juvenile Oriental River Prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) in Response to Salinity Acclimation.

Fangyan Pan,Jianbin Feng,Mengru Zhu,Jiale Li,Shengming Sun

doi:10.3389/fendo.2020.00623

Abstract

Neuropeptides and their G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) from the central nervous system regulate the physiological responses of crustaceans. However, in crustaceans, our knowledge regarding GPCR expression patterns and phylogeny is limited. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the eyestalk transcriptome of the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense in response to salinity acclimation. We obtained 162,250 unigenes after de novo assembly, and 1,392 and 1,409 differentially expressed genes were identified in the eyestalk of prawns in response to low and high salinity, respectively. We used combinatorial bioinformatic analyses to identify M. nipponense genes encoding GPCRs and neuropeptides. The mRNA levels of seven neuropeptides and one GPCR were validated in prawns in response to salinity acclimation using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. A total of 148 GPCR-encoding transcripts belonging to three classes were identified, including 77 encoding GPCR-A proteins, 52 encoding GPCR-B proteins, and 19 encoding other GPCRs. The results increase our understanding of molecular basis of neural signaling in M. nipponense, which will promote further research into salinity acclimation of this crustacean.

Highlights

Crustacean culture provides high-quality food as well as huge economic benefits to farmers and the economy
The assembled transcriptome contained sequences representing 52 different neuropeptide precursors, most of which are present in other crustacean species
Our study was the first to indicate that certain neuropeptides in prawns play an important role in response to salinity acclimation

Summary

Introduction

Crustacean culture provides high-quality food as well as huge economic benefits to farmers and the economy. Prawn Neuropeptide GPCRs and Salinity freshwater habitats from the ancestral marine environment, and have exhibited high adaptability to slightly brackish and freshwater habitats [3,4,5]. Salinity is an important environmental factor in estuarine and coastal systems, which affects the physiology of crustaceans and determines species distributions [6]. Previous studies have confirmed that a number of key neuropeptides participate in salinity stress responses of crustacean [7, 8]. GPCRs, as seven-pass integral membrane proteins, play key roles as transducers of extracellular signals across the lipid bilayer [10, 11], and act as salinity sensors in aquatic animal [12]. The identification of neuropeptides and GPCRs represents an essential step to unraveling the roles of these molecules in response to salinity acclimation

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