Comprehensive Transcriptome Sequencing of Tanaidacea with Proteomic Evidences for Their Silk

Abstract

Tanaidaceans are small benthic crustaceans that mainly inhabit diverse marine environments, and they comprise one of the most diverse and abundant macrofaunal groups in the deep sea. Tanaidacea is one of the most thread-dependent taxa in the Crustacea, constructing tubes, spun with their silk, for shelter. In this work, we sequenced and assembled the comprehensive transcriptome of 23 tanaidaceans encompassing 14 families and 4 superfamilies of Tanaidacea, and performed silk proteomics of Zeuxo ezoensis to search for its silk genes. As a result, we identified two families of silk proteins, that are conserved across the four superfamilies. The long and repetitive nature of these silk genes resembles that of other silk-producing organisms, and the two families of proteins are similar in composition to silkworm and caddisworm fibroins, respectively. Moreover, the amino acid composition of the repetitive motifs of tanaidacean silk tends to be more hydrophilic, and therefore could be a useful resource in studying their unique adaptation of silk use in a marine environment. The availability of comprehensive transcriptome data in these taxa, coupled with proteomic evidence of their silk genes, will facilitate evolutionary and ecological studies.

1000 spider silkomes: Linking sequences to silk physical properties

“…In this study, we have provided a comprehensive dataset encompassing the genotypes and phenotypes (including the mechanotypes) of spider silks and identified the design elements responsible for the extraordinary mechanical and physical performances of these silks. Silk proteins have convergently evolved in various lineages ( 53 ), but the sequence motifs ( 54 ), amino acid composition ( 55 ), and the trade-off between tensile strength and elasticity as a function of ratio between amorphous and crystalline regions ( 56 ) have been shown to have a certain degree of shared characteristics, something supported by our spider silk data. Therefore, these data will serve as a framework for the future analysis of silk proteins and other structural proteins as biomaterials.…”

Phototaxis in Two Shallow-Water Zeuxo Species (Crustacea: Tanaidacea)

“…It is unknown how Z. ezoensis copes with positive phototaxis yet remains in a tube. That most tanaidaceans exist as benthic infauna suggests their ancestral habitat was benthic (see also Kakui et al, 2021), and that the acquisition of positive phototaxis by epiphytic species such as Z. ezoensis may have allowed microhabitat expansion from the darker infaunal habitat to the brighter epiphytic habitat.…”

“…Species in Zeuxo, one of the most species-rich tanaidacean genera in shallow waters (cf. Anderson, 2020), construct tubes with silk in or on various substrates, including the surfaces of seaweeds and seagrasses, sea-bottom sediments, shell gravels, and the insides of empty gastropod shells attached to macroalgae (Nakaoka et al, 2001;Edgar, 2008;Kakui, 2016;Kakui et al, 2017aKakui et al, , 2021García-Herrero et al, 2017). While multiple congeneric species that seem to occupy different microhabitats often occur sympatrically (cf.…”

Sustainable irrigation reduces arsenic bioavailability in fluvio-alluvial soils promoting microbial responses, high rice productivity and economic profit

“…High-throughput sequencing was performed using isolated DNA samples from collected soils using a Qiagen DNeasy Powersoil kit (supplementary method). These finally retrieved raw data were implemented in making microbial diversity assessments, gene ontology, metabolic pathways identification using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), As-responsive gene activity and occurrences 35 .…”