Bian Li, Liu Changlin, Chen Siqing, Zhao Fazhen, Ge Jianlong, Tan Jie
Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Marine Fisheries Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Nanjing road 106, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
Genes Genomics. 2018 Mar;40(3):253-263. doi: 10.1007/s13258-017-0588-6. Epub 2017 Nov 1.
Golden cuttlefish (Sepia esculenta) is an important economic species in China. Because of the rapid decline of its natural resource, researchers are exploring breeding technique for this species. The major obstacle that hinders artificial breeding of S. esculenta is the low larvae survival rate. Mortality is especially high during the mouth-opening stage. Investigating the embryogenesis before the first feed could provide theoretical guidance for reproduction control and breeding of S. esculenta and other Sepia species. In this study, we analyzed the dynamics of the S. esculenta transcriptome along different stages of embryonic development by mRNA-sEq. Our bioinformatics protocol identified 1492 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across the early developmental stages. Gene ontology enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were significantly involved in developmental processes and molecular functions, including chitin metabolic process, peptidase activity, catalytic activity, and calcium ion binding. Our results indicated that genes related to cuttlebone development and gene regulation functions were active during the early life phase of S. esculenta. Hierarchical clustering of the DEGs reflected the successiveness of the developmental stages, revealing that gene expression patterns of neighboring stages were similar. The DEG analysis allowed us to identify specific genes and relevant biological pathways to better understand the molecular mechanisms during each developmental stage. This study provides novel insights into the processes underlying the early developmental stages of S. esculenta. The transcriptomic data and identified genes will serve as valuable references for the developmental biology of this species and will help promote its aquaculture research.
金乌贼（Sepia esculenta）是中国重要的经济物种。由于其自然资源迅速减少，研究人员正在探索该物种的养殖技术。阻碍金乌贼人工养殖的主要障碍是幼体存活率低。在开口阶段死亡率尤其高。研究首次摄食前的胚胎发生可为金乌贼及其他乌贼物种的繁殖控制和养殖提供理论指导。在本研究中，我们通过mRNA测序分析了金乌贼胚胎发育不同阶段转录组的动态变化。我们的生物信息学方案在早期发育阶段鉴定出1492个差异表达基因（DEGs）。基因本体富集分析表明，这些差异表达基因显著参与发育过程和分子功能，包括几丁质代谢过程、肽酶活性、催化活性和钙离子结合。我们的结果表明，与乌贼骨发育和基因调控功能相关的基因在金乌贼生命早期阶段活跃。差异表达基因的层次聚类反映了发育阶段的连续性，表明相邻阶段的基因表达模式相似。差异表达基因分析使我们能够识别特定基因和相关生物学途径，以更好地理解每个发育阶段的分子机制。本研究为金乌贼早期发育阶段的潜在过程提供了新的见解。转录组数据和鉴定出的基因将为该物种的发育生物学提供有价值的参考，并有助于推动其水产养殖研究。
