Hepatopancreatic multi‐transcript expression patterns in the crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus during the moult cycle

Abstract

Alterations of hepatopancreatic multi-transcript expression patterns, related to induced moult cycle, were identified in male Cherax quadricarinatus through cDNA microarray hybridizations of hepatopancreatic transcript populations. Moult was induced by X-organ sinus gland extirpation or by repeated injections of 20-hydroxyecdysone. Manipulated males were sacrificed at premoult or early postmoult, and a reference population was sacrificed at intermoult. Differentially expressed genes among the four combinations of two induction methods and two moult stages were identified. Biologically interesting clusters revealing concurrently changing transcript expressions across treatments were selected, characterized by a general shift of expression throughout premoult and early postmoult vs. intermoult, or by different premoult vs. postmoult expressions. A number of genes were differentially expressed in 20-hydroxyecdysone-injected crayfish vs. X-organ sinus gland extirpated males.

Search for hepatopancreatic ecdysteroid-responsive genes during the crayfish molt cycle: from a single gene to multigenicity

“…The assembly of a crustacean microarray chip by our group previously enabled us to identify hepatopancreatic ecdysteroidresponsive, molt-related genes (Yudkovski et al, 2007). In the present study, we identified ecdysteroid-responsive genes in the C. quadricarinatus hepatopancreas by applying a polygenic cDNA microarray technology combined with the accurate multi-parametric non-invasive molt staging method described above.…”

“…The entire hepatopancreas was removed from each crayfish and snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. mRNA was extracted, and cDNA was generated and labeled in preparation for the hybridization with the microarray slide (see Yudkovski et al, 2007). Dye swap was performed for statistical purposes.…”

“…Ecdysteroid-responsive genes were identified through the analysis of hepatopancreatic expression patterns using a 4800-clone cDNA microarray constructed by our group (Yudkovski et al, 2007). The endocrine manipulations described above were applied to induce premolt in six intermolt crayfish with no apparent gastroliths (MMI values of 0), three males for each treatment.…”

A glycosyl hydrolase family 16 gene is responsible for the endogenous production of β-1,3-glucanases within decapod crustaceans

“…Similarly a BLAST search using the nucleotide sequence from G. natalis revealed that it was respectively 75, 76 and 84% identical to that of β-1,3-glucan binding proteins from E. sinensis, Marsupenaeus japonicus and Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The nucleotide sequence from C. destructor had 97% identity with a 661 bp nucleotide sequence from the closely related crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus; the function of the deduced protein has not been determined (Yudkovski et al, 2007).…”

Chitinase gene responses and tissue sensitivity in an intertidal mud crab (Macrophthalmus japonicus) following low or high salinity stress

“…Hepatopancreas has been shown to be the site of synthesis of digestive enzymes (Lehnert and Johnson 2002), and Huang et al (2010) indicate that CHT1 may function mainly in chitincont ai ning food digestion and degradation of endogeneous chitin in the gut peritrophic membrane before molting. Moreover, Tan et al (2000) also reported that gene coding for Penaeus monodon chitinase 1 (denoted as PmChi-1) was mainly expressed in hepatopancreas, less in the intestine, stomach, and antenna suggesting that hepatopancreatic chitinases and chitin metabolism-related genes not only function as digestive enzymes for ingested chitin but are also involved in the digestion of endogenic stomach chitin, during the premolt stage in crustaceans (Yudkovski et al 2007;Rocha et al 2012). Moreover, L. vannamei chitinase 5 (CHT5) has been expressed in all the tissues tested (hepatopancreas, intestine, cuticle, gill, eyestalk, heart, muscle, and hemocyte) and the highest expression was reported in muscle followed by cuticle and with similar expression in the gill and heart (Huang et al 2010).…”