フジツボ幼生の着生機構

着生フェロモン研究の新たな展開

抄録

Barnacles are prominent sessile organisms in marine ecosystem. Larval settlement in sessile organisms is a critical developmental stage for their survival and reproduction. The gregarious settlement of barnacles and its chemical basis was first described in the middle of the 20^th century. An overview of studies on barnacle settlement pheromones, especially recent molecular approach, is described in this review. An adult glycoprotein, purified from Amphibalanus amphitrite and named as the settlement-inducing protein complex (SIPC), induces settlement of conspecifc cypris larvae. SIPC is active when adsorbed on the surface of substratum, and is thought to be a leading molecule for the gregarious settlement in barnacles. From immunological studies, it was shown that SIPC is a barnacle specific protein and is involved in both adult-larva and larva-larva interactions. Recent cDNA cloning revealed that SIPC shares a 30% sequence homology with α2-macroglobulins and the cDNA encodes 1, 547 amino acids with a 17-residue signal peptide region. The SIPC may have evolved from an ancestral α2-macroglobulin gene.