title: Cloning and tissue expressions of seven chitinase family genes in Litopenaeus vannamei.
abstract: GH18 chitinase is a multi-gene family. The family plays important physiological roles in Crustacea, e.g. ecdysis and defense against pathogen. However, data about GH18 family are rather limited in Crustacea. In the study, different cloning strategies were adopted to clone chitinase genes of Litopenaeus vannamei, which is the most widely cultured shrimp. Seven chitinase family members were identified. Analysis of domain architectures showed the repeated CBM18 modules and catalytic domain of enzymatically inactive chitolectin in Crustacea for the first time. Comparing to the three known groups of crustacean chitinase, four of the seven members are located on new evolutionary clades thus enriched the chitinase family of Crustacea. Tissue expression profiles were investigated in eight tissues. Expression of CHT5 and CHID1 were both detected in the hemocyte by which the innate immunity activity was carried out. The domain architectures, evolutionary relationships and tissue expression patterns all provide reasonable explanation for the existence of multiple genes in crustacean chitinase family.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
authors.forename: Qian-Sheng
authors.initials: QS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jiang-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Jian-Yang
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yi-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Xiao-Lan
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiao-Qian
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Qin-Hua
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Qing-Xi
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002688:Chitinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D033561:Penaeidae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012313:RNA; D002688:Chitinases