Feel, smell and see in an egg: emergence of perception and learning in an immature invertebrate, the cuttlefish embryo.

International audienceIt is now well established that prenatal sensory experience affects development itself and has long-term consequences in terms of postnatal behavior. This study focused on the functionality of the sensory system in cuttlefish in ovo. Embryos of stage 23, 25 and 30 received a tactile, chemical or visual stimulus. An increase of mantle contraction rhythm was taken to indicate a behavioral response to the stimulus. We clearly demonstrated that tactile and chemical systems are functional from stage 23, whereas the visual system is functional only from stage 25. At stage 25 and 30, embryos were also exposed to a repeated light stimulus. Stage 30 embryos were capable of habituation, showing a progressive decrease in contractions across stimulations. This process was not due to fatigue as we observed response recovery after a dishabituation tactile stimulus. This study is the first to show that cuttlefish embryos behaviorally respond to stimuli of different modalities and that the visual system is the last to become functional during embryonic development, as in vertebrate embryos. It also provides new evidence that the memory system develops in ovo in cuttlefish

Functional Characterization of Splice Variants in the Diagnosis of Albinism.

Albinism is a genetically heterogeneous disease in which 21 genes are known so far. Its inheritance mode is autosomal recessive except for one X-linked form. The molecular analysis of exonic sequences of these genes allows for about a 70% diagnostic rate. About half (15%) of the unsolved cases are heterozygous for one pathogenic or probably pathogenic variant. Assuming that the missing variant may be located in non-coding regions, we performed sequencing for 122 such heterozygous patients of either the whole genome (27 patients) or our NGS panel (95 patients) that includes, in addition to all exons of the 21 genes, the introns and flanking sequences of five genes, TYR, OCA2, SLC45A2, GPR143 and HPS1. Rare variants (MAF trans to the first variant were tested by RT-PCR and/or minigene assay. Of the 14 variants tested, nine caused either exon skipping or the inclusion of a pseudoexon, allowing for the diagnosis of 11 patients. This represents 9.8% (12/122) supplementary diagnosis for formerly unsolved patients and 75% (12/16) of those in whom the candidate variant was in trans to the first variant. Of note, one missense variant was demonstrated to cause skipping of the exon in which it is located, thus shedding new light on its pathogenic mechanism. Searching for non-coding variants and testing them for an effect on RNA splicing is warranted in order to increase the diagnostic rate

Neuro-behavioral development and antidepressants in cuttlefish

International audienc

Les céphalopodes ont un cerveau, mais pour quoi faire ?

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Fête de la science : après un bain de jouvence, la stationmarine de Luc-sur-Mer rouvre ses portes

Le Centre de recherches en environnement côtier (CREC) de Luc-sur-Mer, dans le Calvados, a fait peauneuve. Fondé en 1879, il étudie en aquarium le comportement des roussettes, des bars et de di�érentscéphalopodes, comme les seiches et parfois les poulpes. La plupart de ses installations étaientvétustes et non conformes à la directive européenne de 2010 relative à la protection des animauxutilisés à des �ns scienti�ques. Sa rénovation aura duré plus de six ans, avec le soutien de la régionLe nouveau bâtiment du Centre de recherches en environnement côtier (CREC) de Lucsur-Mer. CRECNormandie, de l’Etat, du Fonds européen de développement régional (Feder) et de l’université deCaen-Normandie. En ce mois d’octobre, le CREC va ouvrir ses portes au public à l’occasion de la Fête dela science. Cela n’était pas arrivé depuis bien longtemp

Neuro-behavioral development and antidepressants in cuttlefish

International audienc

Anesthesia in cuttlefish: Very preliminary study with MgCl2

International audienc

Are antidepressants toxic pollutants for aquatic animals ? A cephalopod on antidepressant as an example

International audienc

Fête de la science : après un bain de jouvence, la stationmarine de Luc-sur-Mer rouvre ses portes

Le Centre de recherches en environnement côtier (CREC) de Luc-sur-Mer, dans le Calvados, a fait peauneuve. Fondé en 1879, il étudie en aquarium le comportement des roussettes, des bars et de di�érentscéphalopodes, comme les seiches et parfois les poulpes. La plupart de ses installations étaientvétustes et non conformes à la directive européenne de 2010 relative à la protection des animauxutilisés à des �ns scienti�ques. Sa rénovation aura duré plus de six ans, avec le soutien de la régionLe nouveau bâtiment du Centre de recherches en environnement côtier (CREC) de Lucsur-Mer. CRECNormandie, de l’Etat, du Fonds européen de développement régional (Feder) et de l’université deCaen-Normandie. En ce mois d’octobre, le CREC va ouvrir ses portes au public à l’occasion de la Fête dela science. Cela n’était pas arrivé depuis bien longtemp

Response to Commentary on “Are some invertebrates exquisitely sensitive to the human pharmaceutical fluoxetine?”

International audienceWe appreciate the commentary made by Sumpter and Margiotta-Casaluci (in this issue) who are participating in the brainstorming around the effects of antidepressants on non-target aquatic organisms based on two recent articles published in Aquatic Toxicology, our paper Di Poi et al. (2013) and Franzellitti's article (Franzellitti et al., 2013)