| Title: | Should I stay or should I go? The settlement-inducing protein complex guides barnacle settlement decisions |
| Author(s): | Kotsiri M; Protopapa M; Mouratidis S; Zachariadis M; Vassilakos D; Kleidas I; Samiotaki M; Dedos SG; |
| Address: | "Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 157 84, Greece. Institute of Biosciences and Applications, National Center for Scientific Research 'Demokritos', Agia Paraskevi, Athens 15310, Greece. Biomedical Sciences Research Center 'Alexander Fleming', Fleming 34, 16672 Vari, Greece. Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 157 84, Greece sdedos@biol.uoa.gr" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1477-9145 (Electronic) 0022-0949 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "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 (EC(50))=3.73 nmol l(-1)] and settlement avoidance behaviour at higher concentrations (EC(50)=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" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Behavior, Animal/physiology Glycoproteins Larva/physiology *Pheromones Thoracica/*physiology Amphibalanus amphitrite Barnacles Biofouling Gregarious settlement Predation Settlement-inducing protein complex;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineKotsiri, Manto Protopapa, Maria Mouratidis, Sofoklis Zachariadis, Michael Vassilakos, Demetrios Kleidas, Ioannis Samiotaki, Martina Dedos, Skarlatos G eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2018/10/07 J Exp Biol. 2018 Nov 20; 221(Pt 22):jeb185348. doi: 10.1242/jeb.185348" |
