title: First Insights into the Subterranean Crustacean Bathynellacea Transcriptome: Transcriptionally Reduced Opsin Repertoire and Evidence of Conserved Homeostasis Regulatory Mechanisms.
abstract: Bathynellacea (Crustacea, Syncarida, Parabathynellidae) are subterranean aquatic crustaceans that typically inhabit freshwater interstitial spaces (e.g., groundwater) and are occasionally found in caves and even hot springs. In this study, we sequenced the whole transcriptome of Allobathynella bangokensis using RNA-seq. De novo sequence assembly produced 74,866 contigs including 28,934 BLAST hits. Overall, the gene sequences were most similar to those of the waterflea Daphnia pulex. In the A. bangokensis transcriptome, no opsin or related sequences were identified, and no contig aligned to the crustacean visual opsins and non-visual opsins (i.e. arthropsins, peropsins, and melaopsins), suggesting potential regressive adaptation to the dark environment. However, A. bangokensis expressed conserved gene family sets, such as heat shock proteins and those related to key innate immunity pathways and antioxidant defense systems, at the transcriptional level, suggesting that this species has evolved adaptations involving molecular mechanisms of homeostasis. The transcriptomic information of A. bangokensis will be useful for investigating molecular adaptations and response mechanisms to subterranean environmental conditions.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Bo-Mi
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seunghyun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Do-Hwan
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Hyoung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea.|Polar Sciences, University of Science & Technology, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Inhye
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Chi-Woo
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources, Sangju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Joo-Lae
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Gi-Sik
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Min
authors.affiliation: Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea.|Polar Sciences, University of Science & Technology, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003445:Crustacea / Q000235:genetics*; D006706:Homeostasis; D017299:Rod Opsins / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D017299:Rod Opsins