The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) play a role in early development, organogenesis, and regeneration, as well as biomineralization of invertebrates. The involvement of VEGF and VEGFR in biomineralization was demonstrated in sea urchin la...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:09e0b2b6b6dd46d1b272633b7700b478 2023-05-15T15:58:24+02:00 The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas Anna V. Ivanina Ballav Borah Tadas Rimkevicius Jason Macrander Helen Piontkivska Inna M. Sokolova Elia Beniash 2018-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00309 https://doaj.org/article/09e0b2b6b6dd46d1b272633b7700b478 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2018.00309/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2018.00309 https://doaj.org/article/09e0b2b6b6dd46d1b272633b7700b478 Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 5 (2018) biomineralization mollusk VEGF gene expression regulation hardness crystallinity Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00309 2022-12-31T00:59:08Z Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) play a role in early development, organogenesis, and regeneration, as well as biomineralization of invertebrates. The involvement of VEGF and VEGFR in biomineralization was demonstrated in sea urchin larvae but its role in the biomineralization of other invertebrate groups such as mollusks is not known. We assessed the potential role of VEGF signaling on biomineralization of a model marine bivalve, the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, by analyzing the effects of a VEGFR inhibitor (50 nM axitinib) on shell growth, shell hardness, and expression profiles of biomineralization-related genes. Bioinformatics analysis identified a wide range of biomineralization-related genes potentially activated by VEGF including carbonic anhydrases (CAs), sodium/proton and sodium/calcium exchangers, calmodulins, and genes involved in chitin metabolism. Exposure to a VEGFR inhibitor axitinib led to upregulation of CAs (CA7 and CA12), sodium/proton exchanger 10, sodium/calcium exchanger 1 and 3, as well as calmodulin mRNA in hemocytes (HCs). In the mantle tissue, axitinib exposure led to a compensatory upregulation of VEGFR mRNA but did not affect the expression of other studied biomineralization genes. Expression of VEGF, VEGFR mRNA, or that of the downstream biomineralization-related genes in a non-biomineralizing tissue (the gill) was not affected by axitinib. The shell mass was higher in the axitinib treatment group. Inhibition of VEGFR led to significant increase in shell microhardness, and to a small but statistically significant decrease in crystallinity. Our results therefore indicate that, although VEGF signaling might not play a crucial role in shell biomineralization of C. gigas as it does in mammals and echinoderms, it is involved in regulation of shell formation in bivalves and that effects of VEGF on biomineralization are likely mediated by HCs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Crassostrea gigas Pacific oyster Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Pacific Frontiers in Marine Science 5 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
biomineralization mollusk VEGF gene expression regulation hardness crystallinity Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
biomineralization mollusk VEGF gene expression regulation hardness crystallinity Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Anna V. Ivanina Ballav Borah Tadas Rimkevicius Jason Macrander Helen Piontkivska Inna M. Sokolova Elia Beniash The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas |
topic_facet |
biomineralization mollusk VEGF gene expression regulation hardness crystallinity Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) play a role in early development, organogenesis, and regeneration, as well as biomineralization of invertebrates. The involvement of VEGF and VEGFR in biomineralization was demonstrated in sea urchin larvae but its role in the biomineralization of other invertebrate groups such as mollusks is not known. We assessed the potential role of VEGF signaling on biomineralization of a model marine bivalve, the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, by analyzing the effects of a VEGFR inhibitor (50 nM axitinib) on shell growth, shell hardness, and expression profiles of biomineralization-related genes. Bioinformatics analysis identified a wide range of biomineralization-related genes potentially activated by VEGF including carbonic anhydrases (CAs), sodium/proton and sodium/calcium exchangers, calmodulins, and genes involved in chitin metabolism. Exposure to a VEGFR inhibitor axitinib led to upregulation of CAs (CA7 and CA12), sodium/proton exchanger 10, sodium/calcium exchanger 1 and 3, as well as calmodulin mRNA in hemocytes (HCs). In the mantle tissue, axitinib exposure led to a compensatory upregulation of VEGFR mRNA but did not affect the expression of other studied biomineralization genes. Expression of VEGF, VEGFR mRNA, or that of the downstream biomineralization-related genes in a non-biomineralizing tissue (the gill) was not affected by axitinib. The shell mass was higher in the axitinib treatment group. Inhibition of VEGFR led to significant increase in shell microhardness, and to a small but statistically significant decrease in crystallinity. Our results therefore indicate that, although VEGF signaling might not play a crucial role in shell biomineralization of C. gigas as it does in mammals and echinoderms, it is involved in regulation of shell formation in bivalves and that effects of VEGF on biomineralization are likely mediated by HCs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Anna V. Ivanina Ballav Borah Tadas Rimkevicius Jason Macrander Helen Piontkivska Inna M. Sokolova Elia Beniash |
author_facet |
Anna V. Ivanina Ballav Borah Tadas Rimkevicius Jason Macrander Helen Piontkivska Inna M. Sokolova Elia Beniash |
author_sort |
Anna V. Ivanina |
title |
The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas |
title_short |
The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas |
title_full |
The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas |
title_fullStr |
The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Role of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Signaling in Biomineralization of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas |
title_sort |
role of the vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) signaling in biomineralization of the oyster crassostrea gigas |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00309 https://doaj.org/article/09e0b2b6b6dd46d1b272633b7700b478 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Crassostrea gigas Pacific oyster |
genre_facet |
Crassostrea gigas Pacific oyster |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 5 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2018.00309/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2018.00309 https://doaj.org/article/09e0b2b6b6dd46d1b272633b7700b478 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00309 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
5 |
_version_ |
1766394149862375424 |