Abstract
In a preceding study it has been reported that the freshwater sponge Lubomirskia baicalensis, living in Lake Baikal (East Siberia), is composed of spicules forming a characteristic pattern which follows radiate accretive growth. Here we report that the spicules are synthesized by the enzyme silicatein, a protein which is related to cathepsin L. The cDNAs for silicatein and the related cathepsin L were isolated and used as probes to show that the mRNA levels of silicatein in the bases of the spicule skeleton of the animals are low, while the mRNA level of cathepsin L in this region exceeds that of the growing zone. This is the first comprehensive study on the importance of the axial filament/silicatein as an essential structural and functional component determining the growth and stability of demosponge spicules.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the European Commission (INTAS; SILIBIOTEC), WTZ Germany–Russia (German–Russian cooperation through the BMBF) and a grant from the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Science (no. 25.5) and from RFBR (no. 03-04-49685)
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Note: Sequences from Lubomirskia baicalensis have been deposited in the EMBL/GenBank; cDNAs for the putative silicatein (LBSILICA) are deposited under the accession no. AJ786771 and for cathepsin L (LBCATL) under the accession no. AJ786770.
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Kaluzhnaya, O.V., Belikov, S.I., Schröder, H.C. et al. Dynamics of skeleton formation in the Lake Baikal sponge Lubomirskia baicalensis. Part II. Molecular biological studies. Naturwissenschaften 92, 134–138 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-004-0600-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-004-0600-2