Department of Marine Biotechnology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn Napoli, Naples, Italy.
Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn Napoli, Naples, Italy.
Genome Biol Evol. 2019 Feb 1;11(2):586-596. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evz020.
Apoptosis and autophagy are fundamental mechanisms of programed cell death activated during protostome and deuterostome embryonic development, contributing to the creation and remodeling of different anatomical structures. Programed cell death has been investigated at morphological and biochemical levels, but there is a lack of information concerning gene expression of death factors during deuterostome embryonic development. In this study, we analyze the expression patterns of 13 genes involved in autophagy, extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis during blastula, gastrula, and pluteus stages of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus embryonic development. Results suggested the occurrence of all death mechanisms investigated, highlighting the simultaneous involvement of apoptosis and autophagy during embryonic development. In particular, gastrula was the developmental stage where the majority of death genes were highly expressed. During gastrulation apoptotic processes are fundamental for tissue remodeling, such as cavity formation and removal of inner ectodermal cells. This is the first report that identifies a panel of cell death genes in the P. lividus genome and analyzes their expression variations during ontogenesis.
细胞凋亡和自噬是原口动物和后口动物胚胎发育中激活的程序性细胞死亡的基本机制，有助于不同解剖结构的形成和重塑。程序性细胞死亡已经在形态学和生化水平上进行了研究，但在后口动物胚胎发育过程中，关于死亡因子的基因表达的信息还很缺乏。在这项研究中，我们分析了在海胆 Paracentrotus lividus 胚胎发育的囊胚、原肠胚和幼体阶段中，13 种参与自噬、外在和内在细胞凋亡的基因的表达模式。结果表明所有研究的死亡机制都发生了，突出了细胞凋亡和自噬在胚胎发育过程中的同时参与。特别是在原肠胚阶段，大多数死亡基因高度表达。在原肠胚形成过程中，凋亡过程对于组织重塑至关重要，例如腔的形成和内胚层细胞的去除。这是首次在 P. lividus 基因组中鉴定出一组细胞死亡基因，并分析它们在个体发生过程中的表达变化。
