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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Aquatic Physiology
Volume 11 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1451544
Molecular characterization of a short neuropeptide F signaling system in the swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus, and its role in ovarian development
Provisionally accepted- Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
Short neuropeptide F (sNPF) is a neuropeptide that widely distributed among arthropods. This neuropeptide has been proposed to play pleiotropic roles in insects, but its physiological functions in crustaceans are poorly understood. Here, we cloned the cDNA sequences of sNPF and its putative receptor (sNPFR) from the swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus, and determined their possible roles during ovarian development. PtsNPF encodes three sNPF mature peptides with a conserved C-terminal "RLRFG" motif. All three PtsNPF peptides concentration-dependently activated PtsNPFR expressed in HEK293T cells, with EC50 values in the nanomolar range. PtsNPF and PtsNPFR transcripts showed a broad distribution among neural and non-neural tissues. During the ovarian development, expression of PtsNPF and PtsNPFR in hepatopancreas and ovary both increased to the highest levels at the late-vitellogenic stage, a period for rapid vitellogenesis. The in vitro experiments further showed that, among the three sNPF peptides, sNPF3 treatments can induce the vitellogenin (Vg) gene and protein levels in the hepatopancreas, as well as the Vg receptor (VgR) gene and protein levels and vitellogenin (Vn) deposition in the ovary. Opposing effects were observed for the dsPtsNPFR treatments, suggesting that PtsNPFR plays a role in the PtsNPF-mediated vitellogenesis. Additionally, it was found that the PtsNPF/PtsNPFR system can activate different second messengers species in hepatopancreas and ovary, suggesting it may act via different G proteins.
Keywords: short neuropeptide F, short neuropeptide F receptor, Portunus trituberculatus, ovarian development, RNA Interference
Received: 19 Jun 2024; Accepted: 12 Jul 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Zhou, Li, Shen, Zhu and Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dongfa Zhu, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
Xi Xie, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Qi Zhou