A dynein-associated photoreceptor protein prevents ciliary acclimation to blue light.

Light-responsive regulation of ciliary motility is known to be conducted through modulation of dyneins, but the mechanism is not fully understood. Here, we report a novel subunit of the two-headed f/I1 inner arm dynein, named DYBLUP, in animal spermatozoa and a unicellular green alga. This subunit contains a BLUF (sensors of blue light using FAD) domain that appears to directly modulate dynein activity in response to light.

Proteomic profiling reveals compartment-specific, novel functions of ascidian sperm proteins.

In this study, we performed extensive proteomic analysis of sperm from the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Sperm were fractionated into heads and flagella, followed by further separation into Triton X-100-soluble and -insoluble fractions. Proteins from each fraction and whole sperm were separated by isoelectric focusing using two different pH ranges, followed by SDS-PAGE at two different polyacrylamide concentrations.

CIPRO 2.5: Ciona intestinalis protein database, a unique integrated repository of large-scale omics data, bioinformatic analyses and curated annotation, with user rating and reviewing functionality.

The Ciona intestinalis protein database (CIPRO) is an integrated protein database for the tunicate species C. intestinalis. The database is unique in two respects: first, because of its phylogenetic position, Ciona is suitable model for understanding vertebrate evolution; and second, the database includes original large-scale transcriptomic and proteomic data.

Conserved sequences of sperm-activating peptide and its receptor throughout evolution, despite speciation in the sea star Asterias amurensis and closely related species.

The asteroidal sperm-activating peptides (asterosaps) from the egg jelly bind to their sperm receptor, a membrane-bound guanylate cyclase, on the tail to activate sperm in sea stars. Asterosaps are produced as single peptides and then cleaved into shorter peptides. Sperm activation is followed by the acrosome reaction, which is subfamily specific.

Identification of guanylate cyclases and related signaling proteins in sperm tail from sea stars by mass spectrometry.

Marine invertebrates employ external fertilization to take the advantages of sexual reproduction as one of excellent survival strategies. To prevent mismatching, successful fertilization can be made only after going though strictly defined steps in the fertilization. In sea stars, the fertilization process starts with the chemotaxis of sperm followed by hyperactivation of sperm upon arriving onto the egg coat, and then sperm penetrate to the egg coat before achieving the fusion.

Acrosome reaction is subfamily specific in sea star fertilization.

In the fertilization process of sea stars, sperm is activated to go through the acrosome reaction before cell fusion. We focused on induction of the acrosome reaction as a key process in fertilization. Six species of sea stars were used in this study: Asterias amurensis, Asterias rubens, Asterias forbesi, Aphelasterias japonica, Distolasterias nipon, and Asterina pectinifera.