title: Molecular cloning and tissue  distribution of the Toll receptor in the black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon.
abstract: The  black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) is economically important in many  parts of the world, including Thailand. Shrimp immunity is similar to that of  other invertebrate organisms; it consists of an innate immunity system. Toll or  Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an essential role in recognizing the cleaved  form of the cytokine Spätzle, which is processed by a series of proteolytic  cascades activated by secreted recognition molecules. We isolated a  full-length Toll receptor from P. monodon. The cloned full-length  sequence of the PmToll cDNA consists of 4144 nucleotides, containing a 5'-UTR  with 366 nucleotides, a 3'-terminal UTR with 985 nucleotides, with a classical  polyadenylation signal sequence AATAAA, a poly A-tail with 27 nucleotides, and  an open reading frame coding for 931 amino acids. The deduced amino acid  sequence of PmToll is a typical type I membrane domain protein, characteristic  of TLR functional domains. It includes a putative signal peptide, an  extracellular domain consisting of leucine-rich repeats, flanked by  cysteine-rich motifs, a single-pass transmembrane portion, and a cytoplasmic  TLR domain. PmToll was expressed in all tissues tested, including gill,  hemocytes, heart, hepatopancreas, lymphoid organs, muscle, nerve, pleopod,  stomach, testis, and ovary. The deduced amino acid of PmToll is closely related  to that of other shrimp Tolls, especially FcToll. Further studies elucidating  the mechanism of action of Tolls will be of benefit for understanding the  defense mechanisms of this economically important aquatic species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. wanchai.a@chula.ac.th
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Assavalapsakul
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panyim
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D033561:Penaeidae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors