Figure 1
Gene expression levels of the newly found SLC4 transporters during the molt stages correlate with the mineralization patterns of distinct cuticular structures. (a) In-silico temporal expression of CqSLC4A1 and CqSLC4A7 found in the molt-related transcriptomic library. Data are means ± s.d.; inter-molt (n = 2), early pre-molt (n = 4), late pre-molt (n = 3) and post-molt (n = 3). Different letters represent groups that are statistically significantly different (p-value < 0.05). (b) Relative levels of CqSLC4A1 (top) and CqSLC4A7 (bottom) in the gastrolith-forming epithelium (left) and carapace cuticle-forming epithelium (right) at four molt stages, as determined by qPCR. Molt stages in which the bulk of mineralization occurs are shown in bold typeface for each cuticular structure. Data are means ± s.d., n = 5. Different letters represent groups that are significantly different (p < 0.05). (c) Maximum likelihood tree of SLC4 transport proteins from the decapod crustacean C. quadricarinatus (Cq) discovered in the present study and marked with a dot, the decapod crustacean L. vannamei (Lv), the bony coral S. pistillata (Sp), and H. sapiens (Hs). Bootstrap test (n = 1000) results are shown on each node junction.
