Zeitschrift für Fischerei und Aquakultur
Offener Zugang

Abstrakt

Extracellular Matrix Components in Bivalvia: Shell and ECM Components in Developmental and Adult Tissues

Vyacheslav Dyachuk*

The Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a vital trigger of molecular events in development, homeostasis, cell phenotypes, and evolution. Annotated genome databases and their comparative analyses enable the assessment of the most conservative representation of the ECM components among the Metazoa. Bivalves are widely distributed animals present in various ecological niches. They have shells, indirect developmental life cycles, and highly diverse adaptations and habitat reflected by their ECM repertoire. Only recently, researchers began to characterize the conservation among invertebrates and unique species-specific ECM components involved in biomineralization, development, and cell-cell communications. Here, I discuss the most recent data for the dynamic expression of ECM proteins based on transcriptome data during larval oyster development and in adult organs. Using developmental and cell biology approaches along with confocal microscopy, I showed the expression of certain ECM components in the larvae, adult tissues, and cell cultures. A similar methodology is required to understand the molecular mechanisms and dynamic ECM expression in organisms with very complex life cycles, metamorphosis, indirect development via adaptive larvae, and biomineralization during development.