Work

Mechanism of barotaxis in marine zooplankton

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Hydrostatic pressure is a dominant environmental cue for vertically migrating marine organisms but the physiological mechanisms of responding to pressure changes remain unclear. Here, we uncovered the cellular and circuit bases of a barokinetic response in the planktonic larva of the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii . Increased pressure induced a rapid, graded, and adapting upward swimming response due to the faster beating of cilia in the head multiciliary band. By calcium imaging, we found that brain ciliary photoreceptors showed a graded response to pressure changes. The photoreceptors in animals mutant for ciliary opsin-1 had a smaller sensory compartment and mutant larvae showed diminished pressure responses. The ciliary photoreceptors synaptically connect to the head multiciliary band via serotonergic motoneurons. Genetic inhibition of the serotonergic cells blocked pressure-dependent increases in ciliary beating. We conclude that ciliary photoreceptors function as pressure sensors and activate ciliary beating through serotonergic signalling during barokinesis.

Source: eLife

DOI: 10.7554/elife.94306.3

Authors: Luis Alberto Bezares Calderón, Réza Shahidi, Gáspár Jékely

Institutions: University of Exeter, Heidelberg University

Language: English

Topic: Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology

Subfield: Paleontology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life below water

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,500