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Cysteine dioxygenase and cysteine sulfinate decarboxylase genes of the deep-sea mussel Bathymodiolus septemdierum: possible involvement in hypotaurine synthesis and adaptation to hydrogen sulfide

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Abstract

It has been suggested that invertebrates inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vent areas use the sulfinic acid hypotaurine, a precursor of taurine, to protect against the toxicity of hydrogen sulfide contained in the seawater from the vent. In this protective system, hypotaurine is accumulated in the gill, the primary site of sulfide exposure. However, the pathway for hypotaurine synthesis in mollusks has not been identified. In this study, we screened for the mRNAs of enzymes involved in hypotaurine synthesis in the deep-sea mussel Bathymodiolus septemdierum and cloned cDNAs encoding cysteine dioxygenase and cysteine sulfinate decarboxylase. As mRNAs encoding cysteamine dioxygenase and cysteine lyase were not detected, the cysteine sulfinate pathway is suggested to be the major pathway of hypotaurine and taurine synthesis. The two genes were found to be expressed in all the tissues examined, but the gill exhibited the highest expression. The mRNA level in the gill was not significantly changed by exposure to sulfides or thiosulfate. These results suggests that the gill of B. septemdierum maintains high levels of expression of the two genes regardless of ambient sulfide level and accumulates hypotaurine continuously to protect against sudden exposure to high level of sulfide.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Christopher A. Loretz for critical reading the manuscript and Prof. Toshitaka Gamo for information on chemical components of hydrothermal fluids. The authors also thank the operating team of ROV Hyper-Dolphin and the crew of the R/V Natsushima of JAMSTEC. This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI No. 22380107.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest with respect to this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan

    Toshihiro Nagasaki, Ikumi Nakamura-Kusakabe & Koji Inoue

  2. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 237-0061, Japan

    Yuki Hongo, Shigeru Shimamura, Yoshihiro Takaki, Takao Yoshida & Tadashi Maruyama

  3. College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-0880, Japan

    Tomoko Koito

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  1. Toshihiro Nagasaki
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Correspondence to Koji Inoue.

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Nagasaki, T., Hongo, Y., Koito, T. et al. Cysteine dioxygenase and cysteine sulfinate decarboxylase genes of the deep-sea mussel Bathymodiolus septemdierum: possible involvement in hypotaurine synthesis and adaptation to hydrogen sulfide. Amino Acids 47, 571–578 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1891-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1891-z

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