Single Cells Make Seashells on the Seashore: using scRNAseq to uncover the role of haemocytes in molluscan biomineralization

单细胞在海边制造贝壳：使用 scRNAseq 揭示血细胞在软体动物生物矿化中的作用

基本信息

批准号：
2885049
负责人：
金额：
--
依托单位：
University of Aberdeen
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Studentship
财政年份：
2023
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2023 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2885049
关键词：
Single Cells Make Seashells Seashore

项目摘要

How do molluscs build their shells? Shellfish farmers want to grow disease-resistant animals with strong shells, climate change scientists are concerned about the fate of calcifiers in warmer more acidic oceans, and biotechnology industries mine shells for bioactive compounds and material properties. Despite hundreds of years of scientific curiosity, our understanding on the cellular basis of seashell production is incomplete. In 2004, it was hypothesised that immune cells, called haemocytes, make intracellular calcium crystals and deposit them onto the shell. More recently, methods such as transcriptomics and proteomics revealed haemocytes have a molecular signature that could indicate biomineralisation functions. But a complete molluscan immune cell development (haematopoiesis) description and functional tests to confirm roles in biomineralisation are still lacking. The broad question this project will address is: do immune cells, called haemocytes, participate in mollusc shell secretion? To disentangle the potential role of haemocytes in biomineralization, from their known functions in immunity, the project will use the cutting-edge technique single-cell RNA-sequencing, in two mollusc model systems: Crepidula fornicata and Crassostrea gigas. The project will interrogate scRNAseq datasets to uncover the cell lineage and developmental events that give rise to haemocytes before conducting experiments to empirically test their function.

软体动物如何建造壳？贝类农民希望种植具有强烈贝壳的抗病动物，气候变化科学家关心钙化较高的更酸性海洋中的钙化者的命运，生物技术行业壳壳用于生物活性化合物和材料特性。尽管有数百年的科学好奇心，但我们对贝壳生产的细胞基础的理解是不完整的。 2004年，假设免疫细胞称为血细胞，制成细胞内钙晶体并将其沉积在壳上。最近，诸如转录组学和蛋白质组学之类的方法表明血细胞具有分子特征，可以表明生物矿化功能。但是，仍然缺乏完整的软体动物免疫细胞发育（造血）描述和功能测试，以确认在生物矿化中的作用。该项目将要解决的一个广泛问题是：免疫细胞是否称为血细胞，参与软体动物的分泌？为了解散血细胞在生物矿化中的潜在作用，从其在免疫中的已知功能中，该项目将在两个软体动物模型系统中使用尖端的技术单细胞RNA测序：Crepidula Fornicata和Crassostrea Gigas。该项目将询问SCRNASEQ数据集，以揭示在进行实验以经验测试其功能之前，这些细胞谱系和发育事件会引起血细胞。