Divergent evolution and clade-specific duplications of the Insulin-like Receptor in malacostracan crustaceans

• Published in: General and comparative endocrinology Vol. 268; pp. 34 - 39
• Main Authors: Herran, Benjamin, Bertaux, Joanne, Grève, Pierre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.11.2018; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Biodiversity and Ecology; Crustacea - genetics; Crustaceans; Ecology, environment; Environmental Sciences; Evolution, Molecular; Gene duplication; Insulin-like receptors; Life Sciences; Phylogeny; Receptor, Insulin - genetics; Sexual Development; Sexual differentiation; Vertebrates - genetics; AGH; IGF; IR; Phylogeny; ILP; IAG; IGFBP; Crustaceans; IIS; TK; Gene duplication; Sexual differentiation; Insulin-like receptors; IGFBP-rP
• ISSN: 0016-6480; 1095-6840
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2018.07.013

•The Insulin-like Receptor (IR) of Malacostraca diverged from the rest of Metazoa.•IR divergence may be linked to the Insulin-like based male differentiation.•Conserved clade-specific duplications of the IR occurred within Malacostraca.•One of the IR paralogs was found to be specific to decapod crustaceans.•Two of the 3 IR paralogs are known to bind the Insulin-like Androgenic Gland Hormone. The Insulin-like Receptors (IRs) are an important protein family, represented by three members in vertebrates, two of which are well-known for their implication in metabolism (Insulin Receptor) and growth (IGF Receptor). In contrast, little is known about these receptors in invertebrates, in which a single gene generally exists except for a part of insects and other occasional species-specific duplications. In this study, we used publicly available sequences as well as de novo assembled transcriptomes to investigate the IR evolution in malacostracan crustaceans, animals in which the Insulin/IGF pathway is known to be implicated in sexual development through the androgenic gland hormone. We described the evolutionary divergence of malacostracan IRs compared to all the other metazoan sequences, including other pancrustaceans. We also demonstrated two well conserved duplications of IRs: one specific to the whole malacostracan class, another one specific to the decapod order. The potential implications for malacostracan biology are discussed.