Characterization of a Water-Borne Egg-Laying Synchronization Pheromone

水生产卵同步信息素的表征

• 批准号: 0314377
• 负责人: Gregg Nagle
• 金额: $ 30.5万
• 依托单位: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-01 至 2007-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0314377&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Characterization; Water; Borne; Egg; Laying

Peptide pheromonal communication in the marine environment is an ancient form of chemical communication. In the marine snail Aplysia californica, egg-laying individuals secrete a peptide pheromonal attractant ("attractin") that attracts other Aplysia to the source of the pheromone, resulting in the formation of mating and egg-laying aggregations. Strikingly, Aplysia californica attractin also attracts members of other Aplysia species as well. A conserved stretch of 7 amino acids is found in the attractin sequences of five different species of Aplysia, suggesting that this region is important for activity. One major goal of this study is to determine whether this region is critical for attraction activity. This will be accomplished by: 1) testing mutant attractins in which charged residues in the conserved region are mutated; and 2) synthesizing and testing peptides corresponding to conserved regions of attractin. A second goal is to purify, characterize, clone, and express a second candidate pheromone that is secreted during Aplysia egg laying. When an actively egg-laying Aplysia is placed in an aquarium containing non-laying Aplysia, a higher frequency of egg-laying occurs among non-laying animals, suggesting that an egg-laying synchronization pheromone is secreted by egg layers. The candidate pheromone will be purified from eluates of egg cordons, chemically characterized, cloned, and recombinant pheromone tested to determine whether it triggers the neuroendocrine bag cells to release egg-laying hormone into the blood to stimulate egg release. The results of this study will be of interest to investigators working on chemical communication, peptide pheromones, and the regulation of reproductive behavior in the aquatic environment. They will provide important information about the attractin family and their receptors, and will open the door to studies of the olfactory system. This research will also provide educational and training opportunities for postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate, and high school students.

海洋环境中的肽信息素通讯是一种古老的化学通讯形式。在加利福尼亚海蜗牛中，产卵个体分泌一种肽信息素引诱剂（“吸引素”），将其他加利福尼亚海蜗牛吸引到信息素的来源，导致交配和产卵聚集体的形成。令人惊讶的是，Aaprosia californica attractin也吸引了其他Aaprosia物种的成员。在五种不同种类的Aesthesia的吸引素序列中发现了一段7个氨基酸的保守序列，这表明该区域对活性很重要。本研究的一个主要目标是确定该区域是否对吸引活动至关重要。这将通过以下方式实现：1）测试其中保守区中的带电残基发生突变的突变型吸引素;和2）合成和测试对应于吸引素保守区的肽。第二个目标是纯化、表征、克隆和表达在Aesthesia产卵期间分泌的第二候选信息素。当一个积极的产卵Aaprosia被放置在一个水族馆含有非产卵Aaprosia，更高的产卵频率发生在非产卵动物，这表明产卵同步信息素分泌的鸡蛋层。候选信息素将从卵警戒线的洗脱液中纯化，化学表征，克隆，并测试重组信息素以确定其是否触发神经内分泌袋细胞向血液中释放产卵激素以刺激卵释放。这项研究的结果将是感兴趣的化学通讯，肽信息素，并在水生环境中的生殖行为的调节工作的调查人员。它们将提供关于吸引素家族及其受体的重要信息，并将为嗅觉系统的研究打开大门。这项研究还将为博士后、研究生、本科生和高中生提供教育和培训机会。