Tissue expression analysis of four apoptosis-assciating caspase genes at the early developmental stages of Apostichopus japonicus
MA Deyou
ZHANG Chanchan
LIN Weigang
WANG Luyao
DING Jun
CHANG Yaqing
Abstract：Caspase-dependent apoptosis plays an important role in immune defense and degeneration of metamorphic larvae-specific structures of marine invertebrates.However,studies on caspase-mediated programmed death regulating immune response and early development in Apostichopus japonicus are scarce.In this study,qRT-PCR was used to detect expression level of pro-apoptotic caspase-2,-3,-6,-8 genes in tissues and at early developmental stages of A.japonicus.The results showed that in con-trast to gonad where these genes express at the lowest level,the expression level of caspase-3,-6,and-8 mRNA was the highest in coelomocytes while that of caspase-2 was the highest in tube feet and re-spiratory trees(P＜0.05).The expression of caspase-2,-3,-6,-8 was continuous at a low abundance during the cleavage stages from fertilized egg to gastrula,which increased from auricularial phase(P＜0.05).With the rapid enhancement following a metamorphosis process,their expression peaked at the postmetamorphic juvenile stage,significantly higher than that at other stages(P＜0.05).Our findings indicated that apoptotic caspases are likely to be essential in the immune response and metamorphosis of echinoderms like A.japonicus.
Keywords：Apostichopus japonicusapoptotic caspasemetamorphosisgene expression
Publication Date：2025-06-30
Online Publishing Date：2026-05-22(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 73-80 )