Cognitive Stimulation Induces Differential Gene Expression in Octopus vulgaris: The Key Role of Protocadherins

Maselli, Valeria; Polese, Gianluca; Al-Soudy, Al-Sayed; Buglione, Maria; Cosmo, Anna Di

doi:10.3390/biology9080196

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(106 reference statements)

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“…Important themes such as “ genetics ” and “ genomics ” described for Cephalopods [ 4 ] appear still poorly developed in octopuses with respect to other themes to be evident in our analysis. However, this does not exclude that this theme could become an emergent theme as proved by recent papers that link genes expression to behavior [ 5 , 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…They include about 300 species belonging to several genera [ 1 ]. Octopuses have an exceptionally large, well-developed brain (the largest brain-body mass ratio among invertebrates), and flexible high-order cognitive behaviors (e.g., tool use, problem-solving), with a high degree of brain plasticity, learning, and memory [ 5 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. They are active predators, owing to their peculiar sensorial system [ 14 ], which could be the evolutionary force-drive behind the development of their unique “abilities” [ 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Research Trends in Octopus Biological Studies

Cosmo

Pinelli

Scandurra

et al. 2021

Animals

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Octopuses represent interesting model studies for different fields of scientific inquiry. The present study provides a bibliometric analysis on research trends in octopuses biological studies. The analysis was executed from January 1985 to December 2020 including scientific products reported in the Web of Science database. The period of study was split into two blocks (“earlier period” (EP): 1985−2010; “recent period” (RP): 2011−2020) to analyze the evolution of the research topics over time. All publications of interest were identified by using the following query: ((AK = octopus) OR (AB = octopus) OR (TI = octopus)). Data information was converted into an R-data frame using bibliometrix. Octopuses studies appeared in 360 different sources in EP, while they increased to 408 in RP. Sixty countries contributed to the octopuses studies in the EP, while they were 78 in the RP. The number of affiliations also increased between EP and RP, with 835 research centers involved in the EP and 1399 in the RP. In the EP 5 clusters (i.e., “growth and nutrition,” “pollution impact,” “morphology,” “neurobiology,” “biochemistry”) were represented in a thematic map, according to their centrality and density ranking. In the RP the analysis identified 4 clusters (i.e., “growth and nutrition,” “ecology,” “pollution impact,” “genes, behavior, and brain evolution”). The UK with Ireland, and the USA with Canada shared the highest number of publications in the EP, while in the RP, Spain and Portugal were the leading countries. The current data provide significant insight into the evolving trends in octopuses studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Trends in Octopus Biological Studies

Cosmo

Pinelli

Scandurra

et al. 2021

Animals

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“…4/03/2014, n • 26, and the ethical principles of Reduction, Refinement, and Replacement (Project n • 608/2016-PR-17/06/2016; protocol n • DGSAF 0022292-P-03/10/2017). The test specimens were acclimatised [26], and were fed with fresh fish (Engraulis encrasicolus) as described in Maselli [27]. All octopuses fully recovered from the experimental procedures; they were kept in Prof. Di Cosmo's animal facility and later employed in other experiments.…”

Section: Materials and Methods Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Isoflurane and Adjunctive Magnesium Chloride Provides Fast, Effective Anaesthetization of Octopus vulgaris

Di Cosmo,

Maselli,

Cirillo

et al. 2023

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A wide variety of substances have been used to anaesthetise invertebrates, but many are not anaesthetics and merely incapacitate animals rather than preventing pain. In essence, the role of an ideal general anaesthetic is to act as a muscle relaxant, an analgesic, an anaesthetic, and an amnesic. To achieve all these properties with a single substance is difficult, and various adjuvants usually need to be administered, resulting in a cocktail of drugs. In a clinical setting, the vast majority of patients are unaware of surgery being carried out and have no memory of it, so they can claim to have felt no pain, but this is much more difficult to demonstrate in invertebrates. Here, we show that 1% MgCl2, a muscle relaxant, is a useful adjuvant for the clinical anaesthetic isoflurane on Octopus vulgaris when applied alone in seawater for 10 min before the clinical anaesthetic. After this, full anaesthesia can be achieved in 5 min using 1% isoflurane insufflated into the saline still containing MgCl2. Full recovery takes place rapidly in about 10 to 15 min. The depth of anaesthesia was monitored using changes in respiratory rate, chromatophore pattern, and withdrawal movements of the arms and siphon. This methodology reduces stress on the animal and minimises the quantity of anaesthetic used.

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“…Recent advances in embryo cultivation, standardized aquaculture protocols [ 55 ], and genome editing [ 56 ] have advanced the utility of cephalopods as new model organisms [ 28 ]. Transcriptomic profiling of mollusk embryos [ 57 ], brain [ 58 , 59 ], and multiple tissues of O. bimaculoides adults [ 29 ] has revealed that key development and neurological processing genes are highly conserved in these animals. However, a comprehensive analysis of tissue-specific gene expression profiles in cephalopods has not been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetic machinery is functionally conserved in cephalopods

2022

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Background Epigenetic regulatory mechanisms are divergent across the animal kingdom, yet these mechanisms are not well studied in non-model organisms. Unique features of cephalopods make them attractive for investigating behavioral, sensory, developmental, and regenerative processes, and recent studies have elucidated novel features of genome organization and gene and transposon regulation in these animals. However, it is not known how epigenetics regulates these interesting cephalopod features. We combined bioinformatic and molecular analysis of Octopus bimaculoides to investigate the presence and pattern of DNA methylation and examined the presence of DNA methylation and 3 histone post-translational modifications across tissues of three cephalopod species. Results We report a dynamic expression profile of the genes encoding conserved epigenetic regulators, including DNA methylation maintenance factors in octopus tissues. Levels of 5-methyl-cytosine in multiple tissues of octopus, squid, and bobtail squid were lower compared to vertebrates. Whole genome bisulfite sequencing of two regions of the brain and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing from a hatchling of O. bimaculoides revealed that less than 10% of CpGs are methylated in all samples, with a distinct pattern of 5-methyl-cytosine genome distribution characterized by enrichment in the bodies of a subset of 14,000 genes and absence from transposons. Hypermethylated genes have distinct functions and, strikingly, many showed similar expression levels across tissues while hypomethylated genes were silenced or expressed at low levels. Histone marks H3K27me3, H3K9me3, and H3K4me3 were detected at different levels across tissues of all species. Conclusions Our results show that the DNA methylation and histone modification epigenetic machinery is conserved in cephalopods, and that, in octopus, 5-methyl-cytosine does not decorate transposable elements, but is enriched on the gene bodies of highly expressed genes and could cooperate with the histone code to regulate tissue-specific gene expression.

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Cognitive Stimulation Induces Differential Gene Expression in Octopus vulgaris: The Key Role of Protocadherins

Cited by 7 publications

References 72 publications

Research Trends in Octopus Biological Studies

Research Trends in Octopus Biological Studies

The Use of Isoflurane and Adjunctive Magnesium Chloride Provides Fast, Effective Anaesthetization of Octopus vulgaris

Epigenetic machinery is functionally conserved in cephalopods

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