Expession patterns of mesenchyme specification genes in two distantly related echinoids, Glyptocidaris crenularis and Echinocardium cordatum

Published Date

March 2015, Vol.17(2):87–97, doi:10.1016/j.gep.2015.03.003

Title 

Expession patterns of mesenchyme specification genes in two distantly related echinoids, Glyptocidaris crenularis and Echinocardium cordatum

• Author 

• Atsuko Yamazaki
• Takuya Minokawa ^,

• Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 9 Sakamoto, Asamushi, Aomori, Aomori 039-3501, Japan

Received 16 February 2015. Revised 13 March 2015. Accepted 14 March 2015. Available online 20 March 2015.

Highlights

• •
  Considerable variations in the mesenchyme specification mechanisms in echinoids were suggested.
• •
  The expression pattern related to the posterior process in heart urchins was found.
• •
  It is suggested that the PMCs of the examined species contain non-skeletogenic mesenchyme cells.

Abstract

The molecular mechanism of the larval mesenchyme cell specification in echinoids has been well analyzed. However, most of the data have been provided by studies of a single group of echinoids, the order Camarodonta. Little is known about this mechanism in other echinoid orders. We examined the expression patterns of mesenchyme specification genes, micro1, hesC, alx1, tbr, ets1, cyp1, and gcm, in the two non-Camarodonta echinoids, Glyptocidaris crenularis and Echinocardium cordatum. We found that the expression patterns of some genes contained characteristics that were unique to one of the species; others were shared by the two species. Some of the shared characteristics of G. crenularis and E. cordatum are not found in the species belonging to Camarodonta, suggesting the derived status of this order. The expression of ets1 in E. cordatum aboral ectoderm is one of the molecular level modifications possibly related to an evolutionarily novel larval structure, the posterior process. Our results suggest that a considerable number of modifications in the mesenchyme specification mechanisms have been introduced during the echinoid evolution.

Keywords

• Primary mesenchyme cells
• Secondary mesenchyme cells
• Mesoderm
• Evolution
• Heart urchin
• Sea urchin

---

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

 Table 1

Table 1.

 Table 2

Table 2.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 6.

• PDF (444K)

Fig. S1

• ZIP (3.3M)

Fig. S2

• DOCX (25K)

Appendix S1

• *
  Corresponding author. Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 9 Sakamoto, Asamushi, Aomori, Aomori 039-3501, Japan. Tel.: +81 17 752 3394; fax: +81 17 752 3394.

For further details log on website :

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567133X15000186