Abstract
Quantitative real-time PCR was used to further our understanding of the molecular processes involved in the attachment and metamorphosis of larval barnacles. We report the effects of natural settlement cues (microbial biofilms and conspecific settlement-inducing factor) on the expression profiles of six barnacle cyprid specific (bcs) genes in cyprids of the barnacle Balanus (=Amphibalanus) amphitrite Darwin. Genes bcs-1 to bcs-5 all showed marked decreases in their expression between initial cyprid attachment and the completion of metamorphosis, whereas bcs-6 showed significant up-regulation. Generally, settlement cues exerted no significant effect on the decreasing trend of bcs-1 to bcs-5 expression during attachment and metamorphosis. However, the expression of bcs-6 increased prior to cyprid attachment in response to both settlement cues. This elevated expression of bcs-6 gene indicates the importance and key regulatory role of this specific gene to larval attachment and metamorphosis in this barnacle species. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 45-52 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology |
| Volume | 389 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2010 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): SA-00040, UK-00016
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank several anonymous referees for their constructive comments on the previous version of this manuscript, particularly on data analysis. This study was supported by an award (SA-00040/UK-00016) of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and the RGC grants (N-HKUST602/09, 662408, and AoE/ P-04/011-II) of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to PY Qian. [SS]
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.