Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis

Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis

Mytilus species are used as sentinels for the assessment of environmental health but sex or stage in the reproduction cycle is rarely considered even though both parameters are likely to influence responses to pollution. We have validated the use of a qPCR assay for sex identification and related t...

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Main Authors: Anantharaman, Sandhya, Craft, John A.
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2012
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3511322/
id pubmed-3511322
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-35113222012-12-05 Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis Anantharaman, Sandhya Craft, John A. Research Article Mytilus species are used as sentinels for the assessment of environmental health but sex or stage in the reproduction cycle is rarely considered even though both parameters are likely to influence responses to pollution. We have validated the use of a qPCR assay for sex identification and related the levels of transcripts to the reproductive cycle. A temporal study of mantle of Mytilus edulis found transcripts of male-specific vitelline coat lysin (VCL) and female-specific vitelline envelope receptor for lysin (VERL) could identify sex over a complete year. The levels of VCL/VERL were proportional to the numbers of sperm/ova and are indicative of the stage of the reproductive cycle. Maximal levels of VCL and VERL were found in February 2009 declining to minima between July – August before increasing and re-attaining a peak in February 2010. Water temperature may influence these transitions since they coincide with minimal water temperature in February and maximal temperature in August. An identical pattern of variation was found for a cryptic female-specific transcript (H5) but a very different pattern was observed for oestrogen receptor 2 (ER2). ER2 varied in a sex-specific way with male > female for most of the cycle, with a female maxima in July and a male maxima in December. Using artificially spawned animals, the transcripts for VCL, VERL and H5 were shown to be present in gametes and thus their disappearance from mantle is indicative of spawning. VCL and VERL are present at equivalent levels in February and July–August but during gametogenesis (August to January) and spawning (March to June) VCL is present at lower relative amounts than VERL. This may indicate sex-specific control mechanisms for these processes and highlight a potential pressure point leading to reduced reproductive output if environmental factors cause asynchrony to gamete maturation or release. Public Library of Science 2012-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC3511322/ /pubmed/23226407 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050861 Text en © 2012 Anantharaman, Craft http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Anantharaman, Sandhya
Craft, John A.
spellingShingle Anantharaman, Sandhya
Craft, John A.
Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis
author_facet Anantharaman, Sandhya
Craft, John A.
author_sort Anantharaman, Sandhya
title Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis
title_short Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis
title_full Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis
title_fullStr Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis
title_full_unstemmed Annual Variation in the Levels of Transcripts of Sex-Specific Genes in the Mantle of the Common Mussel, Mytilus edulis
title_sort annual variation in the levels of transcripts of sex-specific genes in the mantle of the common mussel, mytilus edulis
description Mytilus species are used as sentinels for the assessment of environmental health but sex or stage in the reproduction cycle is rarely considered even though both parameters are likely to influence responses to pollution. We have validated the use of a qPCR assay for sex identification and related the levels of transcripts to the reproductive cycle. A temporal study of mantle of Mytilus edulis found transcripts of male-specific vitelline coat lysin (VCL) and female-specific vitelline envelope receptor for lysin (VERL) could identify sex over a complete year. The levels of VCL/VERL were proportional to the numbers of sperm/ova and are indicative of the stage of the reproductive cycle. Maximal levels of VCL and VERL were found in February 2009 declining to minima between July – August before increasing and re-attaining a peak in February 2010. Water temperature may influence these transitions since they coincide with minimal water temperature in February and maximal temperature in August. An identical pattern of variation was found for a cryptic female-specific transcript (H5) but a very different pattern was observed for oestrogen receptor 2 (ER2). ER2 varied in a sex-specific way with male > female for most of the cycle, with a female maxima in July and a male maxima in December. Using artificially spawned animals, the transcripts for VCL, VERL and H5 were shown to be present in gametes and thus their disappearance from mantle is indicative of spawning. VCL and VERL are present at equivalent levels in February and July–August but during gametogenesis (August to January) and spawning (March to June) VCL is present at lower relative amounts than VERL. This may indicate sex-specific control mechanisms for these processes and highlight a potential pressure point leading to reduced reproductive output if environmental factors cause asynchrony to gamete maturation or release.
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2012
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3511322/
_version_ 1611936949864497152

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