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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Aquatic Physiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1575455
The role of IFT20 mediated by neuropeptide FILa1 in ciliary activity during larval settlement of Urechis unicinctus
Provisionally accepted- Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
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Settlement and metamorphosis are crucial developmental events in the life cycles of most marine benthic invertebrates. Neuropeptides play an important role in inducing larval settlement. However, studies on the ciliary genes and the few studies have examined the pathways regulated by neuropeptides during larval settlement. Here, we identified a ciliary gene, intraflagellar transport protein 20 (IFT20) which played a significant role in the larval settlement of Urechis unicinctus (Annelida, Echiura), and revealed the related gene pathway of IFT20 expression regulated by FILa1, a neuropeptide unique to U. unicinctus. The IFT20 protein of U. unicinctus was highly conserved with that of other animals and localized at the ciliary base in the trochophore and the segmentation larvae of U. unicinctus. It was determined that the neuropeptide FILa1 inhibits IFT20 expression through the cAPM-PKA-CREB and Ca 2+ pathways, which in turn triggers larval settlement. Knockdown the mRNA level of IFT20 resulted in a reduction in the number of vesicles at the ciliary base, the β-tubulin protein synthesis, the number and length of cilia, and the beat frequency of the circumoral cilia. Finally, the settlement rate of the larvae in the IFT20-dsRNA group increased by 3.64 times and 2.88 times compared to the control group at 48 and 72 h, respectively. Our findings provide new insights into the function of IFT20 and the signaling pathways through which neuropeptides regulate ciliary gene expression during larval settlement.
Keywords: intraflagellar transport protein 20, Neuropeptide, gene pathway, larval settlement, Urechis unicinctus
Received: 13 Feb 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zhang, Lai, Yang, Lin, Zhang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhengrui Zhang, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.