A phylogenetic classification of gastropod aquaporins

Successful responses to the multifarious challenges of controlling water balance are critical for snails' survival in the great diversity of habitats they occupy. Advances are being made in understanding how such challenges are approached at the molecular level, including through the study of aquaporins, which are proteins functioning to facilitate the passage of water and other small molecules across cellular membranes. Deduced aquaporin amino acid sequences from partial genomic assemblies of three neritimorph species were added to available gastropod data and sequences from other taxa to make a phylogenetic classification of these proteins using maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. We identified ten groups, designated as G1 to G10, containing sequences from multiple major gastropod lineages. At least six of the groups appear to be encoded by multiple genes within at least some species. Five weakly-associated sequences from Neritimorpha were not allocated to a group. The designated groups G1, G2, G3, G4, G5 and G7 (previously defined as Malacoglyceroporins) formed clades containing only gastropod sequences and were strongly supported by Bayesian inference. G1, G2, G3 and G5 were also strongly supported by maximum likelihood analyses. Group G6 (previously defined as Malacoaquaporins)was included with sequences from the oyster, Crassostrea gigas in a strongly supported clade. Groups G8 and G9 included only gastropod sequences but were not strongly supported. Groups G8 and G10 were designated to include all the gastropod sequences belonging respectively to strongly-supported clades including human aquaglyceroporins and aquaammoniaporins. Most groups have been found in a wide range of gastropod lineages but all identified representatives of group G7 belong to Apogastropoda whereas G2 is known only from Patellogastropoda and Neritimorpha.