technical paper
Soluble adenylyl cyclase regulates intracellular pH homeostasis of calcifying cells in the sea urchin larva.
keywords:
ph homeostasis
soluble adenylyl cyclase
biomineralization
Maintaining pH homeostasis is not only require for the biomineralization process of marine calcifiers but also essential to their adaptation streitige against the environmental challenge such as ocean acidification. The calcareous endoskeleton of sea urchin larva, which benefits from years development of gene regulatory networks, ex vivo tissue engineering technique and in vivo gene manipulation approaches, becomes a powerful model for biomineralization research. Based on the model organism Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, our research group discovered a serial transporters and enzymes that are critical to cytosolic pH (pHi) regulation in skeletogenic cells. The cytosolic bicarbonate sensor soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) is one of these factors which might play the central role regulating intracellular pH homeostasis. The cAMP signaling triggered by activated sAC may further stimulates the channel activity and gene expression of pH effectors in skeletogenic cell. In order to investigate the interaction between cAMP signaling and pH-regulating transporters, we developed skeletogenic cell-specific gene expression approaches. According to our preliminary results, the activity of sAC is possibly regulated through its alternative splicing, and the splicing event is stimulated by skeleton regeneration. Further evidences are required to clarify the regulation of sAC splicing event and cytosolic pH homeostasis that initiated by cAMP signaling. The present study demonstrates a canonical cellular stress response that a sensory factor reacts to environmental stimulation through post-transcriptional modification.