Gene expression under differentiated light and feeding conditions and annotation of the transcriptome of Ceriantheomorphe brasiliensis (Cnidaria, Ceriantharia)

Abstract

All living beings have physiological and molecular synchronicities in response to cyclical variations of the environment. This can be explained by the presence of a molecular network responsible for translating predictable environmental signals, the biological clock. Its regulation is related to molecular mechanisms, allowing individuals to anticipate commonly fluctuating environmental conditions and thus, respond adequately to changes, leading to optimization of functions and a greater chance of survival. The phylum Cnidaria consists of animals that play important roles in the marine environment and represent one of the oldest clades in the world. In this way, approaches about biological rhythms and gene expression can contribute to the elucidation of these mechanisms in several other animal phyla. However, studies that report and detail this functioning are scarce and restricted to a few species. Considering these gaps, this project has the objective of describing the gene expression in Ceriantharia in different environmental conditions and compare with data already available for species of other groups in Cnidaria. For this approach, five specimens of the species Ceriantheomorphe brasiliensis will be placed under different light and feeding conditions in order to verify possible variations in the gene expression by means of analyzes of preserved tentacles samples at the beginning and at the end of the experiment of simulated environmental variations. In addition, the data from the transcriptome will be compared with others available in Cnidaria to perform the first gene annotation in Ceriantharia. (AU)