Molecular profile of the unique species of traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese seahorse (Hippocampus kuda Bleeker).
A cDNA library of male Chinese seahorse (Hippocampus kuda Bleeker) was constructed to investigate the molecular profile of seahorse as one of the most famous traditional Chinese medicine materials, and to reveal immunological and physiological mechanisms of seahorse as one of the most primitive vertebrates at molecular level. A total of 3372 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) consisting of 1911 unique genes (345 clusters and 1566 singletons) were examined in the present study. Identification of the genes related to immune system, paternal brooding and physiological regulation provides not only valuable insights into the molecular mechanism of immune system in teleost fish but also plausible explanations for pharmacological activities of Chinese seahorse. Furthermore, the occurrence of high prevalent C-type lectins suggested that a lectin-complement pathway might exert a more dominant function in the innate immune system of teleost than mammal. Carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) without a collagen-like region in the lectins of seahorse was likely an ancient characteristic of lectins similar to invertebrates.
Zhang
Ning
N
Department of Biochemistry, The Open Laboratory for Marine Functional Genomics of State High-Tech Development, Guangzhou Center for Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
Xu
Bin
B
Mou
Chunyan
C
Yang
Wenli
W
Wei
Jianwen
J
Lu
Liang
L
Zhu
Junjie
J
Du
Jingchun
J
Wu
Xiaokun
X
Ye
Lanting
L
Fu
Zhiyan
Z
Lu
Yang
Y
Lin
Jianghai
J
Sun
Zizi
Z
Su
Jing
J
Dong
Meiling
M
Xu
Anlong
A
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics; D037102:Lectins / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000235:genetics*
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D037102:Lectins; D011506:Proteins