Luciferin production and luciferase transcription in the bioluminescent copepod Metridia lucens

PeerJ

article

Michael Tessler¹  Jean P. Gaffney²  Jason M. Crawford⁴  Eric Trautman⁴  Nehaben A. Gujarati²  Philip Alatalo⁵  Vincent A. Pieribone⁶  David F. Gruber² 

[1] Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics;Department of Natural Sciences, City University of New York, Bernard M. Baruch College;Biology, City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center;Department of Chemistry, Yale University;Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution;Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University

关键词: Coelenterazine;    Luciferase;    Coelenteramine;    Luciferin;    Metridia lucens;    Copepoda;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5506

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Bioluminescent copepods are often the most abundant marine zooplankton and play critical roles in oceanic food webs. Metridia copepods exhibit particularly bright bioluminescence, and the molecular basis of their light production has just recently begun to be explored. Here we add to this body of work by transcriptomically profiling Metridia lucens, a common species found in temperate, northern, and southern latitudes. In this previously molecularly-uncharacterized species, we find the typical luciferase paralog gene set found in Metridia. More surprisingly, we recover noteworthy putative luciferase sequences that had not been described from Metridia species, indicating that bioluminescence produced by these copepods may be more complex than previously known. This includes another copepod luciferase, as well as one from a shrimp. Furthermore, feeding experiments using mass spectrometry and 13C labelled L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine firmly establish that M. lucens produces its own coelenterazine luciferin rather than acquiring it through diet. This coelenterazine synthesis has only been directly confirmed in one other copepod species.

【 授权许可】

CC BY