The role of an ancestral hyperpolarization activated cyclic nucleotide-gated K+-channel in branchial acid-base regulation in the green crab, Carcinus maenas (L.)

Abstract

Numerous electrophysiological studies on branchial K+‑transport in Brachyuran crabs established an important role for potassium channels in osmoregulatory ion uptake and ammonia excretion in the gill epithelium of decapod crustaceans. However, hardly anything is known of the actual nature of these channels in crustaceans. In the present study, the identification of a hyperpolarization activated cyclic nucleotide-gated potassium channel (HCN) in the transcriptome of the green crab Carcinus maenas and subsequent performance of quantitative real-time PCR revealed the ubiquitous expression of this channel in this species. Even though mRNA expression levels in the cerebral ganglion were found to be approximately 10‑times higher compared to all other tissues, posterior gills still expressed significant levels of HCN, indicating an important role for this transporter in branchial ion regulation. The relatively unspecific K+-channel inhibitor Ba2+ as well as the HCN-specific blocker ZD7288 as applied in gill perfusion experiments and electrophysiological studies employing the split gill lamellae revealed the presence of at least two different K+/NH4+-transporting structures in the branchial epithelium of C. maenas. Furthermore, HCN mRNA levels in posterior gill #7 decreased significantly in response to the respiratory or metabolic acidosis that was induced by acclimation of green crabs to high environmental pCO2 and ammonia, respectively. Consequently, the present study provides first evidence for HCN‑promoted NH4+ epithelial transport to be involved in both, branchial acid-base and ammonia regulation in an invertebrate.