Habituation in the Tail Withdrawal Reflex Circuit is Impaired During Aging in Aplysia californica

Host response to Aplysia Abyssovirus 1 in nervous system and gill

The California sea hare (Aplysia californica) is a model for age associated cognitive decline. Recent researched identified a novel nidovirus, Aplysia Abyssovirus 1, with broad tropism enriched in the Aplysia nervous system. This virus is ubiquitous in wild and maricultured, young and old animals without obvious pathology. Here we re-evaluated gene expression data from several previous studies to investigate differential expression in the nervous system and gill in response to virus and aging as well as the mutational spectrum observed in the viral sequences obtained from these datasets. Viral load and age were highly correlated, indicating persistent infection. Upregulated genes in response to virus were enriched for immune genes and signatures of ER and proteostatic stress, while downregulated genes were enriched for mitochondrial metabolism. Differential expression with respect to age suggested increased iron accumulation and decreased glycolysis, fatty acid metabolism, and proteasome function. Interaction of gene expression trends associated with viral infection and aging suggest that viral infection likely plays a role in aging in the Aplysia nervous system. Mutation analysis of viral RNA identified signatures suggesting ADAR and AID/APOBEC like deaminase act as part of Aplysia anti-viral defense.

Neuromolecular mechanisms related to reflex behaviour in Aplysia are affected by ocean acidification

While ocean acidification (OA) impacts the behaviour of marine organisms, the complexity of neurosystems makes linking behavioural impairments to environmental change difficult. Using a simple model, we exposed Aplysia to ambient or elevated CO2 conditions (approx. 1500 µatm) and tested how OA affected the neuromolecular response of the pleural-pedal ganglia and caused tail withdrawal reflex (TWR) impairment. Under OA, Aplysia relax their tails faster with increased sensorin-A expression, an inhibitor of mechanosensory neurons. We further investigate how OA affects habituation training output, which produced a 'sensitization-like' behaviour and affected vesicle transport and stress response gene expression, revealing an influence of OA on learning. Finally, gabazine did not restore normal behaviour and elicited little molecular response with OA, instead, vesicular transport and cellular signalling link other neurotransmitter processes with TWR impairment. Our study shows the effects of OA on neurological tissue parts that control for behaviour.

Improvements in operant memory of Aplysia are correlated with age and specific gene expression

The transcription factor Aplysia CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (ApC/EBP) is expressed as an immediate early gene in the cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB) mediated gene cascade, and it has essential functions in the synaptic consolidation of memory following a learning event. Synaptic consolidation primarily involves morphological changes at neuronal synapses, which are facilitated through the reorganization of the actin and microtubular cytoarchitecture of the cell. During early nervous system development, the transmembrane synaptic protein teneurin acts directly upon neuronal presynaptic microtubules and postsynaptic spectrin-based cytoskeletons to facilitate the creation of new synapses. It is reasonable to hypothesize that teneurin may also be linked to learning-induced synaptic changes and is a potential candidate to be a later gene expressed in the CREB-mediated gene cascade downstream of ApC/EBP. To assess the role of ApC/EBP and teneurin in learning and memory in the marine snail Aplysia californica, young (age 7-8 months) and aged (age 13-15 months; aging stage AII) siblings of Aplysia were trained in an operant conditioning paradigm-learning food is inedible (LFI)-over 2 days, during which they learned to modify the feeding reflex. Aged Aplysia had enhanced performance of the LFI task on the second day than younger siblings although far more aged animals were excluded from the analysis because of the initial failure in learning to recognize the inedible probe. After 2 days of training, ApC/EBP isoform X1 mRNA and teneurin mRNA were quantified in selected neurons of the buccal ganglia, the locus of neural circuits in LFI. Teneurin expression was elevated in aged Aplysia compared to young siblings regardless of training. ApC/EBP isoform X1 expression was significantly higher in untrained aged animals than in untrained young siblings but decreased in trained aged animals compared to untrained aged animals. Elevated levels of ApC/EBP isoform X1 and teneurin mRNA before training may have contributed to the enhancement of LFI performance in the aged animals that successfully learned.

Aplysia Neurons as a Model of Alzheimer's Disease: Shared Genes and Differential Expression

Although Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the United States, development of therapeutics has proven difficult. Invertebrate alternatives to current mammalian AD models have been successfully employed to study the etiology of the molecular hallmarks of AD. The marine snail Aplysia californica offers a unique and underutilized system in which to study the physiological, behavioral, and molecular impacts of AD. Mapping of the Aplysia proteome to humans and cross-referencing with two databases of genes of interest in AD research identified 898 potential orthologs of interest in Aplysia. Included among these orthologs were alpha, beta and gamma secretases, amyloid-beta, and tau. Comparison of age-associated differential expression in Aplysia sensory neurons with that of late-onset AD in the frontal lobe identified 59 ortholog with concordant differential expression across data sets. The 21 concordantly upregulated genes suggested increased cellular stress and protein dyshomeostasis. The 47 concordantly downregulated genes included important components of diverse neuronal processes, including energy metabolism, mitochondrial homeostasis, synaptic signaling, Ca⁺⁺ regulation, and cellular cargo transport. Compromised functions in these processes are known hallmarks of both human aging and AD, the ramifications of which are suggested to underpin cognitive declines in aging and neurodegenerative disease.

Co-expression analysis identifies neuro-inflammation as a driver of sensory neuron aging in Aplysia californica

Aging of the nervous system is typified by depressed metabolism, compromised proteostasis, and increased inflammation that results in cognitive impairment. Differential expression analysis is a popular technique for exploring the molecular underpinnings of neural aging, but technical drawbacks of the methodology often obscure larger expression patterns. Co-expression analysis offers a robust alternative that allows for identification of networks of genes and their putative central regulators. In an effort to expand upon previous work exploring neural aging in the marine model Aplysia californica, we used weighted gene correlation network analysis to identify co-expression networks in a targeted set of aging sensory neurons in these animals. We identified twelve modules, six of which were strongly positively or negatively associated with aging. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes analysis and investigation of central module transcripts identified signatures of metabolic impairment, increased reactive oxygen species, compromised proteostasis, disrupted signaling, and increased inflammation. Although modules with immune character were identified, there was no correlation between genes in Aplysia that increased in expression with aging and the orthologous genes in oyster displaying long-term increases in expression after a virus-like challenge. This suggests anti-viral response is not a driver of Aplysia sensory neuron aging.

Changes in Metabolism and Proteostasis Drive Aging Phenotype in Aplysia californica Sensory Neurons

Aging is associated with cognitive declines that originate in impairments of function in the neurons that make up the nervous system. The marine mollusk Aplysia californica (Aplysia) is a premier model for the nervous system uniquely suited to investigation of neuronal aging due to uniquely identifiable neurons and molecular techniques available in this model. This study describes the molecular processes associated with aging in two populations of sensory neurons in Aplysia by applying RNA sequencing technology across the aging process (age 6-12 months). Differentially expressed genes clustered into four to five coherent expression patterns across the aging time series in the two neuron populations. Enrichment analysis of functional annotations in these neuron clusters revealed decreased expression of pathways involved in energy metabolism and neuronal signaling, suggesting that metabolic and signaling pathways are intertwined. Furthermore, increased expression of pathways involved in protein processing and translation suggests that proteostatic stress also occurs in aging. Temporal overlap of enrichment for energy metabolism, proteostasis, and neuronal function suggests that cognitive impairments observed in advanced age result from the ramifications of broad declines in energy metabolism.

Workshop report: Cryopreservation of aquatic biomedical models

The genetic resources of aquatic biomedical model organisms are the products of millions of years of evolution, decades of scientific development, and hundreds of millions of dollars of research funding investment. Genetic resources (e.g., specific alleles, transgenes, or combinations) of each model organism can be considered a form of scientific wealth that can be accumulated and exchanged, typically in the form of live animals or germplasm. Large-scale maintenance of live aquatic organisms that carry these genetic resources is inefficient, costly, and risky. In situ maintenance may be substantially enhanced and backed up by combining cryopreserved germplasm repositories and genetic information systems with live animal culture. Unfortunately, cryopreservation has not advanced much beyond the status of an exploratory research for most aquatic species, lacks widespread application, and methods for successful cryopreservation remain poorly defined. For most aquatic species biological materials other than sperm or somatic cells are not comprehensively banked to represent and preserve a broad range of genetic diversity for each species. Therefore, new approaches and standardization are needed for repository-level application to ensure reproducible recovery of cryopreserved materials. Additionally, development of new technologies is needed to address preservation of novel biological materials, such as eggs and embryos of aquatic species. To address these goals, the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) hosted the Cryopreservation of Aquatic Biomedical Models Workshop on January 7 to 8, 2017, in conjunction with the 8th Aquatic Animal Models of Human Disease Conference in Birmingham, Alabama. The goals of the workshop were to assess the status of germplasm cryopreservation in various biomedical aquatic models and allow representatives of the scientific community to develop and prioritize a consensus of specific actionable recommendations that will move the field of cryopreservation of aquatic resources forward. This workshop included sessions devoted to new approaches for cryopreservation of aquatic species, discussion of current efforts and approaches in preservation of aquatic model germplasm, consideration of needs for standardization of methods to support reproducibility, and enhancement of repository development by establishment of scalable high-throughput technologies. The following three broad recommendations were forwarded from workshop attendees: 1: Establish a comprehensive, centralized unit ("hub") to programmatically develop training for and documentation of cryopreservation methods for aquatic model systems. This would include development of species-specific protocols and approaches, outreach programs, community development and standardization, freezing services and training of the next generation of experts in aquatic cryopreservation. 2: Provide mechanisms to support innovative technical advancements that will increase the reliability, reproducibility, simplicity, throughput, and efficiency of the cryopreservation process, including vitrification and pipelines for sperm, oocytes, eggs, embryos, larvae, stem cells, and somatic cells of all aquatic species. This recommendation encompasses basic cryopreservation knowledge and engineering technology, such as microfluidics and automated processing technologies. 3: Implement mechanisms that allow the various aquatic model stock centers to increase their planning, personnel, ability to secure genetic resources and to promote interaction within an integrated, comprehensive repository network for aquatic model species repositories.