Project description:Method development for protein extraction from microscopic biominerals. The method was developed using Hong Kong oyster larval shells
Project description:Here we reported 226 sperm proteins from the Hong Kong oyster Crassostrea hongkongensis. Proteins extracted from three sperm samples were separated by SDS-PAGE, analyzed by LC-MS/MS and identified using Mascot.
Project description:Thermal exposure of sessile marine animals inhabiting estuarine intertidal regions is a matter of serious concern. The Hong Kong oyster, Crassostrea hongkongensis is one of the dominant sessile inhabitants of marine intertidal region which undergoes large seasonal temperature fluctuations every year. The oyster has developed several adaptation mechanisms to cope with acute thermal stress. However, the genetic basis of these mechanisms remain largely unclear. To better understand how acute thermal exposure affects the biology of the oyster, two cDNA libraries obtained from the gill of oysters exposed to thermal stress and ambient temperature were sequenced using the Digital Gene Expression (DGE) tag profiling strategy. In total, 5.9 and 6.2 million reads were obtained for thermal stress and control libraries respectively, with approximately 74.25% and 75.02 % of the reads mapping to the C. hongkongensis reference sequence. A total of 605 differentially expressed transcripts could be detected in the thermal stress group as compared to the control group, of which 378 are up-regulated and 227 are down-regulated. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis indicated that these Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) were enriched with a broad spectrum of biological processes and pathways, including those associated with chaperones, antioxidants, immunity, apoptosis and cytoskeletal reorganization. Among these significantly enriched pathways, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum was the most affected metabolic pathway, which plays an important role in the unfolded protein response (UPR) and ER-associated degradation (ERAD) processes. Our results demonstrate the complex multi-modal cellular response to thermal stress in C. hongkongensis.
Project description:We have worked on skin explants and activated T cells locally with a CD3 antibody, whole biopsies were activated, then epidermal and dermal RNA was sequenced. Sequencing was performed by BGI (Hong Kong) as well as the group analysis.
