ABSTRACT: Gametogenesis in an alternative hermaphrodite mollusk, the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas: a microarray-based analysis identifies stage- and sex-specific genes
Project description:Deep sequencing of samples from different development stages, different adult organs and different stress treatments of Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas
Project description:Deep sequencing of mRNA from Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas Competent larvae of Crassostrea gigas were treated with epinephrine solution, and then sampled at different time intervals. For shell damage experiment, shell were broken and then tissues were sampled at different time intervals.
Project description:Background The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas (Mollusca, Lophotrochozoa) is an alternative and irregular protandrous hermaphrodite. Little is known about the genetic and phenotypic bases of sex determinism in oysters, and little more about the molecular pathways regulating reproduction. We have recently developed and validated a microarray containing 31,918 oligomers (Dheilly et al., 2011) representing the oyster transcriptome. The application of this microarray to the study of mollusks gametogenesis should provide a better understanding of the key factors involved in sex differentiation and the regulation of oyster reproduction. Results Expression of the 31,918 ESTs was studied in gonads of oysters cultured along the French Atlantic coasts over a yearly reproductive cycle. Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering first showed a significant divergence in gene expression patterns of males and females beginning when gonial mitosis started. Early expressed male-specific genes included bindin and female-specific genes included foxL2, a pancreatic lipase related protein, cd63 and vitellogenin. ANOVA analysis of the data further revealed 2482 genes differentially expressed during the course of males and/or females gametogenesis. The expression of 434 genes could be localized in either germ cells or somatic cells of the gonad by comparing the transcriptome of gonads to the transcriptomes of striped oocytes and somatic tissues. Analysis of the annotated genes revealed conserved molecular mechanisms between mollusks and mammals. Genes involved in chromatin condensation, DNA replication and repair, mitosis and meiosis regulation, transcription, translation and apoptosis were expressed in both male and female gonads. Additional lists of genes more specifically involved in either spermatogenesis (meiotic phase, in spermatozoids and mature sperm formation and in flagella structure and movement) or oogenesis (female sex differentiation, transcriptional regulation, cell cycle regulation and oocytes maturation) were also generated. Conclusions Our study provides novel insight into spermatogenesis and oogenesis in an alternative hermaphrodite bivalve, the Pacific oyster C. gigas. We identified genes opening new perspectives for functional studies of the signaling pathways implicated in gonad differentiation and development.
Project description:Marine intertidal organisms commonly face hypoxic stress during low tide emersion; moreover, eutrophic conditions and sediment nearness could lead to hypoxic phenomena; it is indeed important to understand the molecular processes involved in the response to hypoxia. In this study the molecular response of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas to prolonged hypoxia (2 mg O2 L-1 for 20 d) was investigated under experimental conditions. A transcriptomic approach was employed using a cDNA microarray of 9058 C. gigas clones to highlight the genetic expression patterns of the Pacific oyster under hypoxic conditions. Lines of oysters resistant (R) and susceptible (S) to summer mortality were used in this study. This is the first study employing microarrays to characterize the genetic markers and metabolic pathways responding to hypoxic stress in C. gigas.
Project description:miRNA sequencing of Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas for different organs and developmental stages. Two RNA pools were created and sequenced by mixing the samples before and after the developmental stage "D shaped larvae". Then ten developmental samples and eleven samples from 7 organs were sequenced.
