Integrating Embryonic Development and Evolutionary History to Characterize Tentacle-Specific Cell Types in a Ctenophore

Molecular Biology and Evolution
Leslie S BabonisJoseph F Ryan

Abstract

The origin of novel traits can promote expansion into new niches and drive speciation. Ctenophores (comb jellies) are unified by their possession of a novel cell type: the colloblast, an adhesive cell found only in the tentacles. Although colloblast-laden tentacles are fundamental for prey capture among ctenophores, some species have tentacles lacking colloblasts and others have lost their tentacles completely. We used transcriptomes from 36 ctenophore species to identify gene losses that occurred specifically in lineages lacking colloblasts and tentacles. We cross-referenced these colloblast- and tentacle-specific candidate genes with temporal RNA-Seq during embryogenesis in Mnemiopsis leidyi and found that both sets of candidates are preferentially expressed during tentacle morphogenesis. We also demonstrate significant upregulation of candidates from both data sets in the tentacle bulb of adults. Both sets of candidates were enriched for an N-terminal signal peptide and protein domains associated with secretion; among tentacle candidates we also identified orthologs of cnidarian toxin proteins, presenting tantalizing evidence that ctenophore tentacles may secrete toxins along with their adhesive. Finally, using cell lineage ...Continue Reading

Citations

May 10, 2020·Database : the Journal of Biological Databases and Curation·R Travis MorelandAndreas D Baxevanis
Feb 9, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Adrian Brückner, Joseph Parker
Jul 3, 2021·Genes·Allison EdgarMark Q Martindale

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJEB23672
ABR68008.1
PRJEB28334
GSE60478
GSE111748

Methods Mentioned

BETA
RNA-Seq
single-cell sequencing
glycosylation
single cell sequencing

Software Mentioned

MAFFT
BLASTP
DESeq2
EnsemblMetazoa
GenomeTools
PATSP
Velvet
OrthoFinder
RAxML
Oases

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