Abstract
In this study, morphology observation and illumina sequencing were performed on two different coloration skins of crimson snapper (Lutjanus erythropterus), the black zone and the red zone. Three types of chromatophores, melanophores, iridophores and xanthophores, were organized in the skins. The main differences between the two colorations were in the amount and distribution of the three chromatophores. After comparing the two transcriptomes, 9200 unigenes with significantly different expressions (ratio change ≥ 2 and q-value ≤ 0.05) were found, of which 5972 were up-regulated in black skin and 3228 were up-regulated in red skin. Through the function annotation, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of the differentially transcribed genes, we excavated a number of uncharacterized candidate pigment genes as well as found the conserved genes affecting pigmentation in crimson snapper. The patterns of expression of 14 pigment genes were confirmed by the Quantitative real-time PCR analysis between the two color skins. Overall, this study shows a global survey of the morphological characters and transcriptome analysis of the different coloration skins in crimson snapper, and provides valuable cellular and genetic information to uncover the mechanism of the formation of pigment patterns in snappers.
Highlights
As one of the most diverse phenotypic characteristics in vertebrates, coloration plays numerous adaptive functions like camouflage, predator deterrence and species recognition [1,2]
Under Stereomicroscope, xanthophores have a similar stellated shape to melanophores, which were different from the round shape of erythrophores [31]
The chromatophore morphology and transcriptome information of crimson snapper skin is presented for the first time in this study
Summary
As one of the most diverse phenotypic characteristics in vertebrates, coloration plays numerous adaptive functions like camouflage, predator deterrence and species recognition [1,2]. Skin coloration can be influenced by many factors, such as genetics, diet, environmental or healthy condition, etc. Genetic is still the major determination, the kind of pigmentation related genes and their variant expressions are the major reason of diverse form coloration [1]. Melanophores are the only chromatophore type found in their skin. Several kinds of chromatophores are found take part in the formation of variety coloration in teleost, including melanophores (melanin granules), xanthophores (pteridine or carotenoid granules), iridophores (guanine), leucophore (unknown) and erythrophores (carotenoids and pteridine) [4,5,6,7,8,9]. A few studies about genetic of xanthophore [16] and iridophore [17,18] have been reported recently. Pigmentation is an important economic trait for fish, achieving a uniform and bright coloration is crucial for fish farms
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