title: Immunoglobulin joining (J) chain and its expression in the Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis).
abstract: The immunoglobulin (Ig) joining (J) chain plays an important role in the formation of polymeric Igs and their transport into secretions. In the present study, the cDNA sequence of J chain has been cloned from the Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The cDNA sequence is 2347 bp in length and contains an open reading frame of 480 bp encoding 160 aa including the signal sequence. The deduced amino acid sequence has a high degree of homology with that of an already reported turtle J chain (80.7%), and of chicken (71.3%). By using real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis, a significant up-regulation of J-chain transcripts was observed in spleen, kidney and blood of turtles injected with inactivated Aeromonas hydrophila, indicating the immune role of J chain in response to bacterial infection.
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: M X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Z T
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nie
mesh_terms: D016980:Aeromonas hydrophila / Q000276:immunology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D007133:Immunoglobulin Joining Region / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014426:Turtles / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D007133:Immunoglobulin Joining Region