Abstract
Amusium pleuronectes (Linnaeus) that secretes red- and white-colored valves in two branches of mantle tissues is an excellent model for shell color research. High-throughput transcriptome sequencing and profiling were applied in this project to reveal the detailed molecular mechanism of this phenotype differentiation. In this study, 50,796,780 and 54,361,178 clean reads were generated from the left branch (secreting red valve, RS) and right branch (secreting white valve, WS) using the Illumina Hiseq 2000 platform. De novo assembly generated 149,375 and 176,652 unigenes with an average length of 764 bp and 698 bp in RS and WS, respectively. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) metabolic pathway analysis indicated that the differentially expressed genes were involved in 228 signaling pathways, and 43 genes were significantly enriched (P<0.01). Nineteen of 20 differentially expressed vitellogenin genes showed significantly high expression in RS, which suggested that they probably played a crucial role in organic pigment assembly and transportation of the shell. Moreover, 687 crystal formation-related (or biomineralization-related) genes were detected in A. pleuronectes, among which 144 genes exhibited significant difference between the two branches. Those genes could be classified into shell matrix framework participants, crystal nucleation and growth-related elements, upstream regulation factors, Ca level regulators, and other classifications. We also identified putative SNP and SSR markers from these samples which provided the markers for genetic diversity analysis, genetic linkage, QTL analysis. These results provide insight into the complexity of shell color differentiation in A. pleuronectes so as valuable resources for further research.
Highlights
Variations in shell color display in Mollusca species indicate ecological adaptation to environmental factors, which is an evolved superior quality associated with growth performance.PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0141390 October 23, 2015Identification of Shell Color-Associated Genes from Moon ScallopGuangdong Ocean University, Award Number: GDOU2014050207, Recipient: Qingheng Wang
Data were archived at the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under accession SRA297257
Mutation in/or knockout of the DSPP gene results in mineralization defects in dentin and/or bone. [55,56] This large group of DSPP-like genes presented in A. pleuronectes show that some common features during biomineralization are shared by this mollusk species and higher animals
Summary
Variations in shell color display in Mollusca species indicate ecological adaptation to environmental factors, which is an evolved superior quality associated with growth performance. [4] ambient environments can influence shell color variation, a number of previous studies suggested that this phenotypic trait is a genetic control mechanism during lineage evolution of species. Amusium pleuronectes (Linnaeus) is a well-characterized model, which contains two valves, the upper (left) red and the lower (right) white ones This model was applied to detect the valves secreted by two mantle tissue branches. [27] After eliminating the external interference, the organism’s internal systems were detected by a highly efficient platform, digital expression profiling analysis, and RNA sequences These valves were compared with systematically characterize differences in mRNA expression levels between mantle tissues that secrete red and white valves. Genes involved in both organic pigment and structural (biomineralization-related) coloring determination factors for further insight into the mechanism behind these remarkably diverse traits in mollusks were identified. A. pleuronectes, which is characterized by a larger body, rapid growth, unique muscularity, and palatable quality, has great commercial value in China, the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia. [28] This transcriptomic resource should serve as a solid foundation for future genetic or genomic studies on A. pleuronectes
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