The inner mantle of the giant clam, Tridacna squamosa, expresses a basolateral Na+/K+-ATPase ?-subunit, which displays light-dependent gene and protein expression along the shell-facing epithelium

Abstract

Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) is essential for maintaining the Na+ and K+ gradients, and supporting the secondary active transport of certain ions/molecules, across the plasma membrane of animal cells. This study aimed to clone the NKA ?-subunit (NKA?) from the inner mantle adjacent to the extrapallial fluid of Tridacna squamosa, to determine its subcellular localization, and to examine the effects of light exposure on its transcript level and protein abundance. The cDNA coding sequence of NKA? from T. squamosa comprised 3105 bp, encoding 1034 amino acids with an estimated molecular mass of 114 kDa. NKA? had a basolateral localization along the shell-facing epithelium of the inner mantle. Exposure to 12 h of light led to a significantly stronger basolateral NKA?-immunofluorescence at the shell-facing epithelium, indicating that NKA might play a role in light-enhanced calcification in T. squamosa. After 3 h of light exposure, the transcript level of NKA? decreased transiently in the inner mantle, but returned to the control level thereafter. In comparison, the protein abundance of NKA? remained unchanged at hour 3, but became significantly higher than the control after 12 h of light exposure. Hence, the expression of NKA? in the inner mantle of T. squamosa was light-dependent. It is probable that a higher expression level of NKA was needed in the shell-facing epithelial cells of the inner mantle to cope with a rise in Na+ influx, possibly caused by increases in activities of some Na+-dependent ion transporters/channels involved in light-enhanced calcification. © 2017 Boo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.