TY - JOUR

T1 - Transcriptomic landscape of polypide development in the freshwater bryozoan Cristatella mucedo: from budding to degeneration

AU - Kvach, A.Yu.

AU - Kutyumov, V. A.

AU - Starunov, V.V.

AU - Ostrovsky, A.N.

PY - 2025/5/1

Y1 - 2025/5/1

N2 - Colonial invertebrates consist of iterative semi‐autonomous modules (usually termed zooids) whose lifespan is significantly shorter than that of the entire colony. Typically, module development begins with budding and ends with degeneration. Most studies on the developmental biology of colonial invertebrates have focused on blastogenesis, whereas the changes occurring throughout the entire zooidal life were examined only for a few tunicates. Here we provide the first description of transcriptomic changes during polypide development in the freshwater bryozoan Cristatella mucedo.For the first time for Bryozoa, we performed bulk RNA sequencing of six polypide stages in C. mucedo (buds, juvenile polypides, threematurestages,anddegeneration stage) and generated a high‐quality de novo reference transcriptome. Based on these data, we analyzed clusters of differentially expressed genes for enriched pathways and biological processes that may be involved in polypide budding, growth, active functioning, and degradation. Although stem cells have never been described in Bryozoa, our analysis revealed the expression of conservative “stemness” markers in developing buds and juvenile polypides. Our data also indicate that polypide degeneration is a complex regulated process involving autophagy and other types of programmed cell death. We hypothesize that the mTOR signaling pathway plays an important role in regulating the polypide lifespan.

AB - Colonial invertebrates consist of iterative semi‐autonomous modules (usually termed zooids) whose lifespan is significantly shorter than that of the entire colony. Typically, module development begins with budding and ends with degeneration. Most studies on the developmental biology of colonial invertebrates have focused on blastogenesis, whereas the changes occurring throughout the entire zooidal life were examined only for a few tunicates. Here we provide the first description of transcriptomic changes during polypide development in the freshwater bryozoan Cristatella mucedo.For the first time for Bryozoa, we performed bulk RNA sequencing of six polypide stages in C. mucedo (buds, juvenile polypides, threematurestages,anddegeneration stage) and generated a high‐quality de novo reference transcriptome. Based on these data, we analyzed clusters of differentially expressed genes for enriched pathways and biological processes that may be involved in polypide budding, growth, active functioning, and degradation. Although stem cells have never been described in Bryozoa, our analysis revealed the expression of conservative “stemness” markers in developing buds and juvenile polypides. Our data also indicate that polypide degeneration is a complex regulated process involving autophagy and other types of programmed cell death. We hypothesize that the mTOR signaling pathway plays an important role in regulating the polypide lifespan.

UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/ZXXJAFAAY4SRAYKSMVWH?target=10.1002/jez.b.23285

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/2911bfc0-58b1-35fe-a44c-28d47af4cc1e/

U2 - 10.1002/jez.b.23285

DO - 10.1002/jez.b.23285

M3 - Article

VL - 344

SP - 119

EP - 135

JO - Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution

JF - Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution

SN - 1552-5007

IS - 3

ER -