Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorLewis Ames, Cheryl
dc.contributor.authorRyan, Joseph F.
dc.contributor.authorBely, Alexandra E.
dc.contributor.authorCartwright, Paulyn
dc.contributor.authorCollins, Allen G.
dc.date.accessioned2017-11-03T18:57:05Z
dc.date.available2017-11-03T18:57:05Z
dc.date.issued2016-08-17
dc.identifier.citationLewis Ames, C., Ryan, J. F., Bely, A. E., Cartwright, P., & Collins, A. G. (2016). A new transcriptome and transcriptome profiling of adult and larval tissue in the box jellyfish Alatina alata: an emerging model for studying venom, vision and sex. BMC Genomics, 17, 650. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-016-2944-3en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1808/25255
dc.description.abstractBackground

Cubozoans (box jellyfish) are cnidarians that have evolved a number of distinguishing features. Many cubozoans have a particularly potent sting, effected by stinging structures called nematocysts; cubozoans have well-developed light sensation, possessing both image-forming lens eyes and light-sensitive eye spots; and some cubozoans have complex mating behaviors, including aggregations, copulation and internal fertilization. The cubozoan Alatina alata is emerging as a cnidarian model because it forms predictable monthly nearshore breeding aggregations in tropical to subtropical waters worldwide, making both adult and larval material reliably accessible. To develop resources for A. alata, this study generated a functionally annotated transcriptome of adult and larval tissue, applying preliminary differential expression analyses to identify candidate genes involved in nematogenesis and venom production, vision and extraocular sensory perception, and sexual reproduction, which for brevity we refer to as “venom”, “vision” and “sex”.

Results

We assembled a transcriptome de novo from RNA-Seq data pooled from multiple body parts (gastric cirri, ovaries, tentacle (with pedalium base) and rhopalium) of an adult female A. alata medusa and larval planulae. Our transcriptome comprises ~32 K transcripts, after filtering, and provides a basis for analyzing patterns of gene expression in adult and larval box jellyfish tissues. Furthermore, we annotated a large set of candidate genes putatively involved in venom, vision and sex, providing an initial molecular characterization of these complex features in cubozoans. Expression profiles and gene tree reconstruction provided a number of preliminary insights into the putative sites of nematogenesis and venom production, regions of phototransduction activity and fertilization dynamics in A. alata.

Conclusions

Our Alatina alata transcriptome significantly adds to the genomic resources for this emerging cubozoan model. This study provides the first annotated transcriptome from multiple tissues of a cubozoan focusing on both the adult and larvae. Our approach of using multiple body parts and life stages to generate this transcriptome effectively identified a broad range of candidate genes for the further study of coordinated processes associated with venom, vision and sex. This new genomic resource and the candidate gene dataset are valuable for further investigating the evolution of distinctive features of cubozoans, and of cnidarians more broadly.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-2944-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
en_US
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_US
dc.rights© The Author(s). 2016 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_US
dc.subjectCubozoaen_US
dc.subjectExpression patternsen_US
dc.subjectPedaliumen_US
dc.subjectStingen_US
dc.subjectEmbryoen_US
dc.subjectGametogenesisen_US
dc.subjectPlanulaeen_US
dc.subjectEyeen_US
dc.subjectSpawning aggregationsen_US
dc.subjectSpermen_US
dc.titleA new transcriptome and transcriptome profiling of adult and larval tissue in the box jellyfish Alatina alata: an emerging model for studying venom, vision and sexen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
kusw.kuauthorCartwright, Paulyn
kusw.kudepartmentEcology and Evolutionary Biologyen_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s12864-016-2944-3en_US
kusw.oaversionScholarly/refereed, publisher versionen_US
kusw.oapolicyThis item meets KU Open Access policy criteria.en_US
dc.rights.accessrightsopenAccess


Files in this item

Thumbnail

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

© The Author(s). 2016 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as: © The Author(s). 2016 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.