Transcriptome profile of Orfelia fultoni (Diptera: Keroplatidae): investigating genes and routes involved with bioluminescence in Diptera.

• Grant number: 15/25051-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: May 01, 2016
• End date: October 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Vadim Viviani
• Grantee: Danilo Trabuco do Amaral
• Supervisor: Carl H. Johnson
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias para a Sustentabilidade (CCTS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Vanderbilt University (VU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/20176-9 - Transcriptome of larva and adult lanterns and larvae fatty body of Elateroidea (Coleoptera), BP.PD

Abstract

Bioluminescence has been widely found in many different taxa and habitats. Among terrestrial organisms, bioluminescence is mainly described in Coleoptera and Diptera. In Diptera order, bioluminescence occurs in Keroplatus, Arachnocampa and Orfelia genus (Keroplatidae). Oferlia fultoni occurs in stream banks in the Appalachian Mountains at North Caroline and uses the bioluminescence as lure to prey attraction. The bioluminescence in this species is emitted by two translucent lanterns at the extremities of the body and is the most bluest luminescence among terrestrial species (»max = 460 nm). O. fultoni displayed a more complex system than Arachnocampa, showing an auxiliary protein involved to bioluminescent reaction, activated by DTT and ascorbic acid, with a possible luciferase fraction of 140 kDa (probably a dimer). BRET applicability of this system, with a blue spectrum (~460 nm), is prominent due to high spectrum similarity to Aequorea GFP mutant. In this work, we will perform a high throughput sequencing of transcriptomes (RNA-Seq) from O. fultoni species and compare the gene expression in two bioluminescence activity periods (high and low), to identify possible candidates genes and routes involved with bioluminescence.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

AMARAL, DANILO T.; JOHNSON, CARL H.; VIVIANI, VADIM R.. RNA-Seq analysis of the blue light-emitting Orfelia fultoni (Diptera: Keroplatidae) suggest photoecological adaptations at the molecular level. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology D-Genomics & Proteomics, v. 39, SEP 2021. (14/20176-9, 14/50583-5, 10/05426-8, 15/25051-2)