Meeting Abstract

P1.135  Saturday, Jan. 4 15:30  Identification and developmental expression of amine biosynthetic enzymes in the copepod crustacean Calanus finmarchicus FONTANILLA, T.F.*; RONCALLI, V.; CIESLAK, M.C.; LENZ, P.H.; CHRISTIE, A.E.; Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology, Pacific Biosciences Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 tianamf@hawaii.edu

Chemical signaling is a key component of physiological/behavioral control systems in the copepod crustacean Calanus finmarchicus, a major contributor to the zooplanktonic biomass in the North Atlantic Ocean. While many molecules can be used for chemical signaling, one well-known class is the amines. Here, we have used a de novo assembled transcriptome composed of 206,041 unique sequences to identify Calanus transcripts encoding amine biosynthetic enzymes; known Drosophila melanogaster proteins were used for all query sequences. To help vet the proteins deduced from the identified Calanus transcripts, each was subjected to reverse BLAST and protein structural analyses. Via this workflow, putative Calanus homologs of DOPA decarboxylase (dopamine and serotonin biosynthesis), histidine decarboxylase (histamine biosynthesis), tryptophan hydroxylase (serotonin biosynthesis), tryptophan-phenylalanine hydroxylase (dopamine, octopamine and serotonin biosynthesis), tyramine beta-hydroxylase (octopamine biosymthesis), tyrosine decarboxylase (octopamine biosynthesis), and tyrosine hydroxylase (dopamine synthesis) were identified. In addition, RNA-Seq profiling was used to map transcript expression across the developmental stages of the Calanus. For each of the enzyme-encoding transcripts, high levels of expression were seen in the early nauplius and early copepodite stages, suggesting that amines may play key roles in controlling the metamorphic transitions between embryo/nauplius and nauplius/copepodite in this species.