Evolution of Respiratory Proteins across the Pancrustacea

Abstract

Respiratory proteins enhance the capacity of the blood for oxygen transport and support intracellular storage and delivery of oxygen. Hemocyanin and hemoglobin are the respiratory proteins that occur in the Pancrustacea. The copper-containing hemocyanins evolved from phenoloxidases in the stem lineage of arthropods. For a long time, hemocyanins had only been known from the malacostracan crustaceans but recent studies identified hemocyanin also in Remipedia, Ostracoda, and Branchiura. Hemoglobins are common in the Branchiopoda but have also been sporadically found in other crustacean classes (Malacostraca, Copepoda, Thecostraca). Respiratory proteins had long been considered unnecessary in the hexapods because of the tracheal system. Only chironomids, some backswimmers, and the horse botfly, which all live under hypoxic conditions, were known exceptions and possess hemoglobins. However, recent data suggest that hemocyanins occur in most ametabolous and hemimetabolous insects. Phylogenetic analysis showed the hemocyanins of insects and Remipedia to be similar, suggesting a close relationship of these taxa. Hemocyanin has been lost in dragonflies, mayflies, and Eumetabola (Hemiptera + Holometabola). In cockroaches and grasshoppers, hemocyanin expression is restricted to the developing embryo while in adults oxygen is supplied solely by the tracheal system. This pattern suggests that hemocyanin was the oxygen-transport protein in the hemolymph of the last common ancestor of the pancrustaceans. The loss was probably associated with miniaturization, a period of restricted availability of oxygen, a change in life-style, or morphological changes. Once lost, hemocyanin was not regained. Some pancrustaceans also possess cellular globin genes with uncertain functions, which are expressed at low levels. When a respiratory protein was again required, hemoglobins evolved several times independently from cellular globins.