Understanding Snail Mucus Biosynthesis and Shell Biomineralisation through Genomic Data Mining of the Reconstructed Carbohydrate and Glycan Metabolic Pathways of the Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica)

Simple Summary In this research, we analysed the genome of the giant African snail to identify enzymes and reconstruct biochemical pathways related to carbohydrate and glycan metabolism. Fourteen complete pathways of carbohydrate metabolism and seven complete pathways of glycan metabolism were found to be associated with the nutrient acquisition and production of the mucus proteoglycans. The enhanced copy number of amylases, cellulases, and chitinases could give the snail an advantage in terms of food consumption and a fast growth rate. The identified ascorbate biosynthesis pathway could be linked to shell biomineralisation. This understanding will benefit the discovery of valuable enzymes for industrial and medical applications. The giant African snail (Order Stylommatophora: Family Achatinidae), Achatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822), is the most significant and invasive land snail pest. The ecological adaptability of this snail involves high growth rate, reproductive capacity, and shell and mucus production, driven by several biochemical processes and metabolism. The available genomic information for A. fulica provides excellent opportunities to hinder the underlying processes of adaptation, mainly carbohydrate and glycan metabolic pathways toward the shell and mucus formation. The authors analysed the 1.78 Gb draft genomic contigs of A. fulica to identify enzyme-coding genes and reconstruct biochemical pathways related to the carbohydrate and glycan metabolism using a designed bioinformatic workflow. Three hundred and seventy-seven enzymes involved in the carbohydrate and glycan metabolic pathways were identified based on the KEGG pathway reference in combination with protein sequence comparison, structural analysis, and manual curation. Fourteen complete pathways of carbohydrate metabolism and seven complete pathways of glycan metabolism supported the nutrient acquisition and production of the mucus proteoglycans. Increased copy numbers of amylases, cellulases, and chitinases highlighted the snail advantage in food consumption and fast growth rate. The ascorbate biosynthesis pathway identified from the carbohydrate metabolic pathways of A. fulica was involved in the shell biomineralisation process in association with the collagen protein network, carbonic anhydrases, tyrosinases, and several ion transporters. Thus, our bioinformatic workflow was able to reconstruct carbohydrate metabolism, mucus biosynthesis, and shell biomineralisation pathways from the A. fulica genome and transcriptome data. These findings could reveal several evolutionary advantages of the A. fulica snail, and will benefit the discovery of valuable enzymes for industrial and medical applications.

Automated summary

In this research, the genome of the giant African snail was analysed to identify enzymes and reconstruct biochemical pathways related to carbohydrate and glycan metabolism. The study found several complete pathways associated with nutrient acquisition, mucus production, and shell biomineralization. Increased copy numbers of certain enzymes indicated advantages in food consumption and growth rate. This understanding will benefit the discovery of valuable enzymes for industrial and medical applications.