Abstract
The wingless-related integration site (WNT) proteins are a family of secreted glycoproteins that are evolutionarily conserved and are believed to be involved in evolution in vertebrates and invertebrates. WNT signaling pathways may be associated with limb regeneration and development in crustaceans. However, the detail mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, the distribution of WNT4 in the hepatopancreasmuscle, hemocyte, ganglion, heart, eyestalk, gill tissue, and different larvae development stages of the swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus) were characterized using immunofluorescence, real-time PCR, and Western blotting. Significant PtWNT4 expression was detected in heart and eyestalk. In addition-PtWNT4 was expressed in all larval stages of P. trituberculatus with a dynamic expression pattern, especially in the eyestalk and other organs in the carapace area. The injection of WNT4 dsRNA into regenerative limbs significantly decreased PtWNT4 mRNA levels in the eyestalk, heart, and muscle, resulting in 1.9-fold, 2.2-fold, and 2.7-fold decreases compared with those detected in the group injected with crab saline (P<0.05), respectively, indicating successful gene silencing. Overall, expression analysis on the WNT4 using RNAi provides an insight to its functional mechanism during limb regeneration in P. trituberculatus. The results not only demonstrated the requirement for WNT4 in limb regeneration of Crustaceans, but also suggested its ability to promote larval development at specific stages.
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Abbreviations
- CXCR4:
-
C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 4
- SHH:
-
sonic hedgehog
- WNT:
-
wingless-related integration site
- BCC:
-
basal cell carcinoma
- WNT4:
-
wingless-type MMTV integration site family member-4
- WNT3a:
-
wingless-type MMTV integration site family member-3a
- WNT5a:
-
wingless-type MMTV integration site family member-5a
- WNT7a:
-
wingless-type MMTV integration site family member-7a
- GFP:
-
green fluorescent protein
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The authors are grateful to all the laboratory members for their technical advice and helpful discussion.
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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31602152), the Major Agriculture Program of Ningbo (No. 2017C110007), and the K. C. Wong Magana Fund in Ningbo University. The funding body had no role in the study design, experimental implementation, interpretation of data, or writing of the manuscript
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All data generated and/or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author, LIU Lei, upon reasonable request.
Authors’ Contribution
REN Zhiming, FU Yuanyuan, and LIU Lei carried out the immunofluorescence, real-time PCR, and Western blotting experiments, LIU Xiao performed the RNAi experiments and data analysis. Experiments were planned and analyzed by LIU Lei and WANG Chunlin. Manuscript preparation was done by REN Zhiming, FU Yuanyuan, and LIU Lei.
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Ren, Z., Fu, Y., Liu, L. et al. Expression and function of WNT4 involved in larvae development and limb regeneration in Portunus trituberculatus. J. Ocean. Limnol. 39, 306–316 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-020-9291-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-020-9291-6