TY - JOUR
T1 - Should I stay or should I go? The settlement-inducing protein complex guides barnacle settlement decisions
AU - Kotsiri, Manto
AU - Protopapa, Maria
AU - Mouratidis, Sofoklis
AU - Zachariadis, Michael
AU - Vassilakos, Demetrios
AU - Kleidas, Ioannis
AU - Samiotaki, Martina
AU - Dedos, Skarlatos G.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported from funds by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens under award number Kapodistrias:11240 and by the GSRT-EPANII-11SYN-5-1274 ‘Maripaints’ research grant from the Greek General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) and the European Social Fund (ESF).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
PY - 2018/11/20
Y1 - 2018/11/20
N2 - Reproduction in barnacles relies on chemical cues that guide their gregarious settlement. These cues have been pinned down to several sources of settlement pheromones, one of which is a protein termed settlement-inducing protein complex (SIPC), a large glycoprotein acting as a pheromone to induce larval settlement and as an adhesive in surface exploration by the cyprids. Settlement assays in laboratory conditions with Amphibalanus (=Balanus) amphitrite cyprids in the presence of SIPC showed that cyprids exhibit settlement preference behaviour at lower concentrations of SIPC [half maximal effective concentration (EC50)=3.73 nmol l-1] and settlement avoidance behaviour at higher concentrations (EC50=101 nmol l-1). By using truncated fragments of SIPC in settlement assays, we identify that domains at the N-terminus of SIPC transduce settlement preference cues that mask the settlement avoidance cues transduced by domains at its C-terminus. Removing the N-terminal 600 amino acids from SIPC resulted in truncated fragments that transduced only settlement avoidance cues to the cyprids. From the sexual reproduction point of view, this bimodal response of barnacles to SIPC suggests that barnacles will settle gregariously when conspecific cues are sparse but will not settle if conspecific cues inform of overcrowding that will increase reproductive competition and diminish their reproductive chances.
AB - Reproduction in barnacles relies on chemical cues that guide their gregarious settlement. These cues have been pinned down to several sources of settlement pheromones, one of which is a protein termed settlement-inducing protein complex (SIPC), a large glycoprotein acting as a pheromone to induce larval settlement and as an adhesive in surface exploration by the cyprids. Settlement assays in laboratory conditions with Amphibalanus (=Balanus) amphitrite cyprids in the presence of SIPC showed that cyprids exhibit settlement preference behaviour at lower concentrations of SIPC [half maximal effective concentration (EC50)=3.73 nmol l-1] and settlement avoidance behaviour at higher concentrations (EC50=101 nmol l-1). By using truncated fragments of SIPC in settlement assays, we identify that domains at the N-terminus of SIPC transduce settlement preference cues that mask the settlement avoidance cues transduced by domains at its C-terminus. Removing the N-terminal 600 amino acids from SIPC resulted in truncated fragments that transduced only settlement avoidance cues to the cyprids. From the sexual reproduction point of view, this bimodal response of barnacles to SIPC suggests that barnacles will settle gregariously when conspecific cues are sparse but will not settle if conspecific cues inform of overcrowding that will increase reproductive competition and diminish their reproductive chances.
KW - Amphibalanus amphitrite
KW - Barnacles
KW - Biofouling
KW - Gregarious settlement
KW - Predation
KW - Settlementinducing protein complex
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056803363&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1242/jeb.185348
DO - 10.1242/jeb.185348
M3 - Article
C2 - 30291158
AN - SCOPUS:85056803363
VL - 221
JO - The Journal of Experimental Biology
JF - The Journal of Experimental Biology
SN - 0022-0949
IS - 22
ER -