Abstract
Flatworms can very rapidly attach to and detach from many substrates. In the presented work, we analysed the adhesive system of the marine proseriate flatworm Minona ileanae. We used light-, scanning- and transmission electron microscopy to analyse the morphology of the adhesive organs, which are located at the ventral side of the tail-plate. We performed transcriptome sequencing and differential RNA-seq for the identification of tail-specific transcripts. Using in situ hybridization expression screening, we identified nine transcripts that were expressed in the cells of the adhesive organs. Knock-down of five of these transcripts by RNA interference led to a reduction of the animal's attachment capacity. Adhesive proteins in footprints were confirmed using mass spectrometry and antibody staining. Additionally, lectin labelling of footprints revealed the presence of several sugar moieties. Furthermore, we determined a genome size of about 560 Mb for M. ileanae. We demonstrated the potential of Oxford Nanopore sequencing of genomic DNA as a cost-effective tool for identifying the number of repeats within an adhesive protein and for combining transcripts that were fragments of larger genes. A better understanding of the molecules involved in flatworm bioadhesion can pave the way towards developing innovative glues with reversible adhesive properties.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Transdisciplinary approaches to the study of adhesion and adhesives in biological systems’.
Highlights
The adhesion of animals to a surface is a common phenomenon in nature [1,2]
Flatworms have evolved a remarkable temporary adhesion/ release system to cope with the challenges of their marine or freshwater habitats
A model of how the animals achieve this task was proposed for the basal flatworm Macrostomum lignano
Summary
The adhesion of animals to a surface is a common phenomenon in nature [1,2]. Mussels, barnacles and ascidians attach to the substrate as larvae by secreting adhesive substances and remain permanently attached throughout their lifetime. In contrast to permanent adhesion, echinoderms, Hydra and flatworms use a temporary adhesive system for functions such as attachment, locomotion, feeding and defence. Their temporary adhesion relies on the secretion of an adhesive material that, upon detachment of the animal, stays behind permanently on the substrate as a so-called footprint [8,9,10,11,12]. No homologue of Mlig-ap can be found in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database, which comprises 10.921 Taxonomy ID entries for Platyhelminthes (Taxonomy ID 6157) This lack of homologues raises questions about adhesive molecules of other flatworm species. The identification of new flatworm glue proteins can lead to the generation of a biomimetic glue with novel properties
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