Piwi1 is essential for gametogenesis in mollusk Chlamys farreri

Xiaoshi Ma; Aichang Ji; Zhifeng Zhang; Dandan Yang; Shaoshuai Liang; Yuhan Wang; Zhenkui Qin

doi:10.7717/peerj.3412

Piwi1 is essential for gametogenesis in mollusk Chlamys farreri

PeerJ. 2017 Jun 23:5:e3412. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3412. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Xiaoshi Ma^#¹, Aichang Ji^#¹, Zhifeng Zhang¹, Dandan Yang¹, Shaoshuai Liang¹, Yuhan Wang¹, Zhenkui Qin¹

Affiliation

¹ Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding (Ocean University of China), Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Piwi (P-element induced wimpy testis) is an important gene involved in stem cell maintenance and gametogenesis in vertebrates. However, in most invertebrates, especially mollusks, the function of Piwi during gametogenesis remains largely unclear. To further understand the function of Piwi during gametogenesis, full-length cDNA of Piwi1 from scallop Chlamys farreri (Cf-Piwi1) was characterized, which consisted of a 2,637 bp open reading frame encoding an 878-amino acid protein. Cf-Piwi1 mRNA was mainly localized in the spermatogonia, spermatocytes, oogonia, oocytes of early development and intra-gonadal somatic cells. Additionally, the knockdown of Cf-Piwi1 by injection of Cf-Piwi1-dsRNA (double-stranded RNA) into scallop adductor led to a loss of germ cells in C. farreri gonads. Apoptosis was observed mainly in spermatocytes and oocytes of early development, as well as in a small number of spermatogonia and oogonia. Our findings indicate that Cf-Piwi1 is essential for gametogenesis in the scallop C. farreri.

Keywords: Cf-piwi1; Chlamys farreri; Gametogenesis; Germ cell; Ovary; Testis.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Innovation Project from Laboratory for Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (2015ASKJ02) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31602139). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.