Résumé : Tahiti’s pearl farming industry plays a major socio-economic role in French Polynesia. In an increasingly competitive market where the production of high quality pearls becomes essential, research can help secure and ensure sustainable production. In that context, Ifremer, in close collaboration with the “direction des resources marines” (French Polynesian government agency) has developed research projects on the “sustainable development of pearl farming”. This program is organized along 3 axes: (1) understanding the animal physiology and initiating a genetically selective breeding program of donor oysters; (2) understanding pearl oyster larvae dispersal and recruitment; (3) understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying biomineralization processes during shell and pearl formation. It is in this frame that we have developed a highthroughput Expressed Sequence Tags pyrosequencing program on the calcifying mantle, combined with proteomic analyses of the shell and pearl. We analyzed 276738 EST sequences, leading to the constitution of a P. margaritifera mantle transcripts catalogue of 82 sequences potentially involved in biomineralization. Our results provided direct evidence that our ESTs data set covers a large number of the matrix proteins of P. margaritifera. In addition, our proteomic analysis enabled us to retrieve, in silico, all the sequences from P. margaritifera involved in the biomineralization process already published on databases. Integration of these two methods allowed, for the first time, the global composition of calcifying tissue and calcified structures to be examined in tandem.
Recent Advances in Pearl Research—Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pearl Research 2011.Edited by Shugo Watabe, Kaoru Maeyama and Hiromichi Nagasawa. 2013. ISBN : 978-4-88704-158-5. pp.184-194

Droits : 2013 TERRAPUB. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00167/27840/26049.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00167/27840/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD BioMed Central
Résumé : International audience
Background: Color polymorphism in the nacre of pteriomorphian bivalves is of great interest for the pearl culture industry. The nacreous layer of the Polynesian black-lipped pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera exhibits a large array of color variation among individuals including reflections of blue, green, yellow and pink in all possible gradients. Although the heritability of nacre color variation patterns has been demonstrated by experimental crossing, little isknown about the genes involved in these patterns. In this study, we identify a set of genes differentially expressed among extreme color phenotypes of P. margaritifera using a suppressive and subtractive hybridization (SSH) method comparing black phenotypes with full and half albino individuals.Results: Out of the 358 and 346 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) obtained by conducting two SSH libraries respectively, the expression patterns of 37 genes were tested with a real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) approach by pooling five individuals of each phenotype. The expression of 11 genes was subsequently estimated for each individual in order to detect inter-individual variation. Our results suggest that the color of the nacre is partiallyunder the influence of genes involved in the biomineralization of the calcitic layer. A few genes involved in the formation of the aragonite tablets of the nacre layer and in the biosynthesis chain of melanin also showed differential expression patterns. Finally, high variability in gene expression levels were observed within the black phenotypes.Conclusions: Our results revealed that three main genetic processes were involved in color polymorphisms: the biomineralization of the nacreous and calcitic layers and the synthesis of pigments such as melanin, suggesting that color polymorphism takes place at different levels in the shell structure. The high variability of gene expression found within black phenotypes suggests that the present work should serve as a basis for future studies exploringmore thoroughly the expression patterns of candidate genes within black phenotypes with different dominant iridescent colors.
ISSN: 1471-2164

hal-01260141
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01260141
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01260141/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01260141/file/Lemer-2015-BMCGenom-Identification.pdf
DOI : 10.1186/s12864-015-1776-x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We describe an experimental system including monitoring of temperature, pressure, pH, oxidation reduction potential and optical density at 600 nm, designed for studying the role of microorganisms on the geological sequestration Of CO2 and its transformation into solid carbonate phases. Measurements were performed in an artificial ground water (AGW) supplemented with urea (2 g.l(-1)) and equilibrated at controlled temperatures with a gaseous phase before bacterial inoculation. We used the ureolytic strain Bacillus pasteurii as a model carbonate precipitating bacteria and showed that it can successfully promote strong pH increases by ureolysis in the AGW equilibrated with CO2 pressures of up to I bar. Increasing salinities (5.8,13.5 and 35.0 g.l(-1)) have a positive effect on the rate of pH increase, whereas the effect of increasing temperatures (30,35 and 38 degrees C) is less important. Calcium is also shown to have a specific positive influence on the rate of ureolysis. The number of viable cells present in solution decreases greatly during the carbonate precipitation event but the population partially recovers once precipitation is over.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-00445282
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445282
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.12.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Among persisting questions on bone calcification, a major one is the link between protein expression and mineral deposition. A cell culture system is here proposed opening new integrative studies on biomineralization, improving our knowledge on the role played by non-collagenous proteins in bone. This experimental in vitro model consisted in human primary osteoblasts cultured for 60 days at the surface of a 3D collagen scaffold mimicking an osteoid matrix. Various techniques were used to analyze the results at the cellular and molecular level (adhesion and viability tests, histology and electron microscopy, RT-and qPCR) and to characterize the mineral phase (histological staining, EDX, ATG, SAED and RMN). On long term cultures human bone cells seeded on the osteoid-like matrix displayed a clear osteoblast phenotype as revealed by the osteoblast-like morphology, expression of specific protein such as alkaline phosphatase and expression of eight genes classically considered as osteoblast markers, including BGLAP, COL1A1, and BMP2. Von Kossa and alizarine red allowed us to identify divalent calcium ions at the surface of the matrix, EDX revealed the correct Ca/P ratio, and SAED showed the apatite crystal diffraction pattern. In addition RMN led to the conclusion that contaminant phases were absent and that the hydration state of the mineral was similar to fresh bone. A temporal correlation was established between quantified gene expression of DMP1 and IBSP, and the presence of hydroxyapatite, confirming the contribution of these proteins to the mineralization process. In parallel a difference was observed in the expression pattern of SPP1 and BGLAP, which questioned their attributed role in the literature. The present model opens new experimental possibilities to study spatio-temporal relations between bone cells, dense collagen scaffolds, NCPs and hydroxyapatite mineral deposition. It also emphasizes the importance of high collagen density environment in bone cell physiology.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01142641
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01142641
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01142641/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01142641/file/Silvent_2013_Collagen.pdf
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0057344