Hu Zhi, Song Hao, Zhou Cong, Yu Zheng-Lin, Yang Mei-Jie, Zhang Tao
CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
Genomics. 2020 Sep;112(5):3636-3647. doi: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2020.04.020. Epub 2020 Apr 27.
Color plays a vital function in camouflage, sexual selection, immunity, and evolution. Mollusca possess vivid shell colors and pigmentation starts at the juvenile stage. The hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria is a widely cultivated bivalve of high economic value. To explore the molecular mechanism of pigmentation in juvenile clams, here, we performed RNA-Seq analysis on non-pigmented, white, and red M. mercenaria specimens. Clean reads were assembled into 358,285 transcripts and 149,234 unigenes, whose N50 lengths were 2107 bp and 1567 bp, respectively. Differentially expressed genes were identified and analyzed for KEGG enrichment. "Melanoma/Melanogenesis", "ABC transporters", and "Porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism" pathways appeared to be associated with pigmentation. Pathways related to carotenoid metabolism seemed to also play a vital role in pigmentation in juveniles. Our results provide new insights into the formation of shell color in juvenile hard clams.
颜色在伪装、性选择、免疫和进化中起着至关重要的作用。软体动物拥有鲜艳的外壳颜色，色素沉着始于幼体阶段。硬壳蛤（Mercenaria mercenaria）是一种广泛养殖的双壳贝类，具有很高的经济价值。为了探究幼蛤色素沉着的分子机制，在此，我们对无色素、白色和红色的硬壳蛤样本进行了RNA测序分析。干净的 reads 被组装成 358,285 个转录本和 149,234 个单基因，其 N50 长度分别为 2107 bp 和 1567 bp。鉴定出差异表达基因并进行KEGG富集分析。“黑色素瘤/黑色素生成”、“ABC转运蛋白”和“卟啉和叶绿素代谢”途径似乎与色素沉着有关。与类胡萝卜素代谢相关的途径似乎在幼体色素沉着中也起着至关重要的作用。我们的结果为幼体硬壳蛤外壳颜色的形成提供了新的见解。
