Meeting Abstract
P1.146 Saturday, Jan. 4 15:30 Evolution of neuronal genes in Aplysia californica: Interplay between development and memory of injury SANFORD, R S*; DABE, E C; KOHN, A B; MOROZ, L L; The Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience, St Augustine, FL, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL ; The Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience, St Augustine, FL, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL ; The Whitney Lab. for Marine Bioscience, St Augustine, FL; The Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience, St Augustine, FL, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL, Univ. of Florida McKnight Brain Inst., Gainesville, FL rsanford@ufl.edu
Genome-wide transcriptional changes in development provide important information on mechanisms underlying neural fate specification, neural identity, neurogenesis and neural patterning and how these processes relate to neural recovery after injury. Here, we characterize transcriptomes of embryonic, larval, and metamorphic stages in the sea slug, Aplysia californica, and examine novel molecular components associated with the development of the nervous system and neuronal injury. To do this we first annotated the recently sequenced Aplysia genome (in conjunction with the Broad Institute) for the entire complement of the developmental genes. Second, we performed deep RNA-seq analysis of all key developmental stages starting from cleavage and gastrulation to post hatching veligers. Both Illumina and semiconductor sequencing were used with up to 50-60 million sequencing reads per sample. Finally, we compare these data to other molluscs including the limpet, Lottia gigantea and the oyster Crassostrea gigas. As a result we were able to identify a large subset of previously uncharacterized components of signal transduction pathways, transcription factors and non-coding RNAs potentially recruited from developmental programs to support neurogenesis and long-term plasticity in adult memory forming circuits. Interestingly, our initial comparative analysis suggests, with some molecular toolkits, the early origin of genes associated to injury-induced neuroplasticity was well-conserved across both basal metazoans and bilaterians.
