Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, Israel.
Comp Biochem Physiol Part D Genomics Proteomics. 2010 Jun;5(2):171-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cbd.2010.03.010. Epub 2010 Apr 7.
In the crustacean Cherax quadricarinatus, alterations of multi-transcript expression patterns between intermolt and late premolt stages were identified in the hypodermis and in the gastrolith disk via a cDNA microarray. The gastrolith disk is a specialized epithelium forming the gastroliths at premolt. The gastroliths are deposits of calcium carbonate derived from the digested cuticle contributing the mineral to the newly formed exoskeleton at postmolt. The late premolt stage was characterized by a dramatic general up-regulation of genes in the gastrolith disk. This phenomenon is explained by the gastrolith disk function rapid formation of the relatively large gastrolith during a short period of time. Besides genes of general importance for this dramatic change, three genes related to the chitin-protein-mineral structure were identified. The cDNA and the deduced protein of the novel one of them, the chitin deacetylase 1 (Cq-CDA1) was fully characterized and its resemblance to already characterized structural proteins of the gastrolith matrix was described. Cq-CDA1 characteristics strongly indicate its participation in the gastrolith construction, although its protein product was not identified yet in the gastrolith. In addition, many differentially expressed genes with unknown function were elucidated. An unexpected milder down-regulation was observed in the hypodermis.
在十足目螯虾（Cherax quadricarinatus）中，通过 cDNA 微阵列，在蜕皮间期和晚期蜕皮前期，真皮层和胃石盘之间的多转录本表达模式发生了变化。胃石盘是一种特化的上皮组织，在蜕皮前期形成胃石。胃石是碳酸钙的沉积物，来源于被消化的外骨骼，为新形成的蜕皮后期外骨骼提供矿物质。晚期蜕皮前期，胃石盘的基因出现显著的全面上调。这一现象可以通过胃石盘的功能来解释，即在短时间内快速形成相对较大的胃石。除了与这种剧烈变化一般重要的基因外，还鉴定出了三个与几丁质-蛋白质-矿物质结构相关的基因。其中一个新基因的 cDNA 和推导的蛋白质，即几丁质脱乙酰酶 1（Cq-CDA1）被充分表征，并描述了其与胃石基质中已鉴定的结构蛋白的相似性。Cq-CDA1 的特征强烈表明其参与了胃石的构建，尽管其蛋白质产物尚未在胃石中被鉴定。此外，还阐明了许多具有未知功能的差异表达基因。在真皮层观察到意外的轻度下调。
