単純な多細胞動物であるサンゴのアクロポラ・ミルレポラ (Acropora millepora) の光に反応する暗号染色体
O Levy1, L Appelbaum, W Leggat
1Centre for Marine Studies, University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072 QLD, Australia.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|October 20, 2007
まとめ
リーフを作るサンゴは,月光を検出するために暗号クロームと呼ばれる古代の青光センサーを使用し,その大量産卵イベントを同期します. この発見により,動物界におけるこれらの分子の新たな役割が明らかになった.
科学分野:
- マリン・バイオロジー マリン・バイオロジー
- クロノバイオロジーはクロノバイオロジーを用います.
- 分子進化は分子進化である
背景:
- リーフを形成するサンゴは,毎年,同期された大量産卵イベントを披露します.
- 月の周期,特に月の光は,サンゴの産卵のレギュレーターとして知られています.
- 珊瑚が月の光を検知する分子メカニズムは,ほとんど不明のままである.
研究 の 目的:
- 珊瑚の月の光を検出する分子光受容体を特定する.
- 光と月のサイクルに関連して,特定された光受容体の発現パターンを調査する.
- これらの光受容体の進化的意義を,早期に分岐した動物で理解するために.
主な方法:
- Acropora millepora.というサンゴの暗号色遺伝子 (cry1とcry2) の識別と特徴付けについて.
- 異なる照明条件下での暗号色遺伝子発現レベルの分析.
- 満月の夜と新月の夜におけるcry2表現レベルの比較.
主要な成果:
- 古代の青い光を感知する光受容体であるCryptochromesは,Acropora milleporaで特定されました.
- cry1とcry2の両方の遺伝子は,光の存在で好ましく発現することが判明しました.
- cry2の発現は,新月の夜と比較して満月の夜に著しく高かったので,月の同期における役割を示唆しています.
結論:
- クリプトクロームは,サンゴが月の光を検出できるようにする重要な分子成分です.
- これらの発見は,様々な動物族の間で光に依存した行動を媒介する暗号染色体の保存された役割を強調しています.
- この研究は,サンゴの大量産卵イベントの同期のための分子基盤を明らかにしています.
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