title: PmPPAE2, a new class of crustacean prophenoloxidase (proPO)-activating enzyme and its role in PO activation.
abstract: The prophenoloxidase (proPO) activating system plays an important role in the defense against microbial invasion in invertebrates. In the present study, we report a second proPO-activating enzyme (designated PmPPAE2) from the hemocytes of the black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon. PmPPAE2 contained the structural features of the clip domain serine proteinase family and exhibited 51% amino acid sequence similarity to the insect Manduca sexta PAP-1. Amino acid sequence alignment with the available arthropod PPAE sequences demonstrated that PmPPAE2 is a new class of crustacean PPAE. Transcript expression analysis revealed that PmPPAE2 transcripts were mainly expressed in hemocytes. Double-stranded RNA-mediated suppression of PmPPAE2 transcript levels resulted in a significant decrease in the total hemolymph PO activity (41%) and also increased the shrimp's susceptibility to Vibrio harveyi infection. Genomic organization analysis revealed that PmPPAE1 and PmPPAE2 are encoded by different genomic loci. The PmPPAE1 gene consists of ten exons and nine introns, whilst PmPPAE2 comprises of eight exons interrupted by seven introns. Analysis of the larval developmental stage expression of the four key genes in the shrimp proPO system (PmPPAE1, PmPPAE2, PmproPO1 and PmproPO2) revealed that PmPPAE1 and PmproPO2 transcripts were expressed in all larval stages (nauplius, protozoea, mysis and post-larvae), whilst PmPPAE2 and PmproPO1 transcripts were mainly presented in the late larval developmental stages (mysis and post-larvae). These results suggest that the PmPPAE2 functions as a shrimp PPAE and possibly mediates the activation of PmproPO1.
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence for Molecular Biology and Genomics of Shrimp, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
authors.forename: Walaiporn
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Charoensapsri
authors.forename: Piti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amparyup
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hirono
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Anchalee
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tassanakajon
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000276:immunology; D004156:Catechol Oxidase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007814:Larva / Q000201:enzymology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D000073718:Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins; D033561:Penaeidae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D000073718:Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins; C000612141:REG3A protein, human; C038451:pro-phenoloxidase; D004156:Catechol Oxidase