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Transcriptomic and Physiological Analysis Reveal Melanin Synthesis-Related Genes and Pathways in Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas)

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Abstract

Shell color is one of the shell traits of molluscs, which has been regarded as an economic trait in some bivalves. Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) are important aquaculture shellfish worldwide. In the past decade, several shell color strains of C. gigas were developed through selective breeding, which provides valuable materials for research on the inheritance pattern and regulation mechanisms of shell color. The inheritance patterns of different shell colors in C. gigas have been identified in certain research; however, the regulation mechanism of oyster pigmentation and shell color formation remains unclear. In this study, we performed transcriptomic and physiological analyses using black and white shell oysters to investigate the molecular mechanism of melanin synthesis in C. gigas. Several pigmentation-related pathways, such as cytochrome P450, melanogenesis, tyrosine metabolism, and the cAMP signaling pathway were found. The majority of differentially expressed genes and some signaling molecules from these pathways exhibited a higher level in the black shell oysters than in the white, especially after l-tyrosine feeding, suggesting that those differences may cause a variation of tyrosine metabolism and melanin synthesis. In addition, the in vitro assay using primary cells from mantle tissue showed that l-tyrosine incubation increased cAMP level, gene and protein expression, and melanin content. This study reveals the difference in tyrosine metabolism and melanin synthesis in black and white shell oysters and provides evidence for the potential regulatory mechanism of shell color in oysters.

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Data Availability

The transcriptome data have been deposited in the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database with the accession number PRJNA900369 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA900369).

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Funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFD2400305), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31972789), and China Agriculture Research System Project (CARS-49).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Kunyin Jiang, Chengxun Xu, Hong Yu, Lingfeng Kong, Shikai Liu & Qi Li

  2. Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Qi Li

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  1. Kunyin Jiang
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  2. Chengxun Xu
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  3. Hong Yu
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  4. Lingfeng Kong
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Contributions

Kunyin Jiang: completion of the experiment, data analysis, and manuscript drafting. Qi Li: experimental design and coordination, manuscript revision, and funding acquisition. Chengxun Xu: resources. Hong Yu: resources. Lingfeng Kong: resources. Shikai Liu: investigation.

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Correspondence to Qi Li.

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The C. gigas used in this study are neither an endangered nor protected species. All experiments in this study were conducted according to national and institutional guidelines.

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Jiang, K., Xu, C., Yu, H. et al. Transcriptomic and Physiological Analysis Reveal Melanin Synthesis-Related Genes and Pathways in Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas). Mar Biotechnol 26, 364–379 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-024-10302-2

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