title: Transcriptome analysis of the couch potato (CPO) protein reveals an expression pattern associated with early development in the salmon louse Caligus rogercresseyi.
abstract: The couch potato (CPO) protein is a key biomolecule involved in regulating diapause through the RNA-binding process of the peripheral and central nervous systems in insects and also recently discovered in a few crustacean species. As such, ectoparasitic copepods are interesting model species that have no evidence of developmental arrest. The present study is the first to report on the cloning of a putative CPO gene from the salmon louse Caligus rogercresseyi (CrCPO), as identified by high-throughput transcriptome sequencing. In addition, the transcription expression in larvae and adults was evaluated using quantitative real-time PCR. The CrCPO cDNA sequence showed 3261 base pairs (bp), consisting of 713bp of 5' UTR, 1741bp of 3' UTR, and an open reading frame of 807bp encoding for 268 amino acids. The highly conserved RNA binding regions RNP2 (LFVSGL) and RNP1 (SPVGFVTF), as well the dimerization site (LEF), were also found. Furthermore, eight single nucleotide polymorphisms located in the untranslated regions and one located in the coding region were detected. Gene transcription analysis revealed that CrCPO has ubiquitous expression across larval stages and in adult individuals, with the highest expression from nauplius to copepodid stages. The present study suggests a putative biological function of CrCPO associated with the development of the nervous system in salmon lice and contributes molecular evidence for candidate genes related to host-parasite interactions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, P. O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile. Electronic address: crisgallardo@udec.cl.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gallardo-Escárate
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, P. O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valenzuela-Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, P. O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nuñez-Acuña
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, P. O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chávez-Mardones
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, P. O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: Waleska
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Maldonado-Aguayo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D033342:Copepoda / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D009687:Nuclear Proteins
keywords: ABC; ANOVA; ATP-binding cassette transporters; Basic Local Alignment Search Tool; CDS; CPO; Caligus rogercresseyi; Copepodid; Couch potato gene; EST; GABA-Cl; Gene expression; GluCl; HKG; NCBI; NJ; National Center for Biotechnology Information; P-glycoprotein; PCR; PSVs; Pgp; RACE; RNA binding region 1; RNA binding region 2; RNA recognition motif; RNA sequencing; RNA-seq; RNP1; RNP2; RRM; SNPs; UTR; analysis of variance; base pairs; blast; bp; coding sequence; couch potato protein; expressed sequence tag; glutamate-gated chloride channel; housekeeping gene; mRNA; messenger RNA; neighbor-joining method; paralogous sequence variants; polymerase chain reaction; qPCR; quantitative PCR; rapid amplification of cDNA ends; single nucleotide polymorphisms; untranslated region; γ-aminobutyric acid chloride channel