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. 2017 Sep 12:8:699.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00699. eCollection 2017.

A Preliminary Study on the Pattern, the Physiological Bases and the Molecular Mechanism of the Adductor Muscle Scar Pigmentation in Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas

Wenchao Yu  1 , Cheng He  1 , Zhongqiang Cai  2 , Fei Xu  3 , Lei Wei  1 , Jun Chen  1 , Qiuyun Jiang  1 , Na Wei  1 , Zhuang Li  1 , Wen Guo  4 , Xiaotong Wang  1
Affiliations

A Preliminary Study on the Pattern, the Physiological Bases and the Molecular Mechanism of the Adductor Muscle Scar Pigmentation in Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas

Wenchao Yu et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

The melanin pigmentation of the adductor muscle scar and the outer surface of the shell are among attractive features and their pigmentation patterns and mechanism still remains unknown in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. To study these pigmentation patterns, the colors of the adductor muscle scar vs. the outer surface of the shell on the same side were compared. No relevance was found between the colors of the adductor muscle scars and the corresponding outer surface of the shells, suggesting that their pigmentation processes were independent. Interestingly, a relationship between the color of the adductor muscle scars and the dried soft-body weight of Pacific oysters was found, which could be explained by the high hydroxyl free radical scavenging capacity of the muscle attached to the black adductor muscle scar. After the transcriptomes of pigmented and unpigmented adductor muscles and mantles were studied by RNAseq and compared, it was found that the retinol metabolism pathway were likely to be involved in melanin deposition on the adductor muscle scar and the outer surface of the shell, and that the different members of the tyrosinase or Cytochrome P450 gene families could play a role in the independent pigmentation of different organs.

Keywords: Pacific oyster; adductor muscle scar; dried soft-body weight; melanin; outer surface of shell; pigmentation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Both the outer shell surfaces (A1) and the adductor muscle scars (A2) of the oysters were black in the pigmented group; both the outer shell surfaces (B1) and the adductor muscle scars (B2) of the oysters white in the unpigmented group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The color differed between the adductor muscle scar and the outer surface of the shell on the same side. The black outer surface of the left shell (A) and the white left adductor muscle scar in the same oyster (B); the white outer surface of the right shell (A') and the black right adductor muscle scar in the same oyster (B').
Figure 3
Figure 3
The HFRSC in the white muscles compared to those in the black muscles. The double-asterisk (**) indicates statistically significant difference (P < 0.01).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The upregulated tyrosinase genes in black muscle compared to white muscle (A) and in black mantle compared to white mantle (B). The double-asterisk (**) indicates statistically significant difference (P < 0.01).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The location schematic of the upregulated tyrosinase genes (red) and their neighboring tyrosinase genes (black) in scaffolds.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The retinol dehydrogenase genes and Cytochrome P450 genes in the retinol metabolism pathway and their probable associations with melanin biosynthesis. RDH, retinol dehydrogenase; CYP, Cytochrome P450. The picture was got based on the pathway of retinol metabolism in animals in KEGG pathway database (http://www.genome.jp/kegg-bin/show_pathway?map00830) and the results of this study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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