title: Identification and primary immune characteristics of an amphioxus akirin homolog.
abstract: Akirin is a recently described nuclear protein that is thought to be required for the NF-κB signaling pathway in insects and vertebrates. Here, functional investigations of akirin are described in the basal chordate amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense in an attempt to link this gene between insect and vertebrate lineages. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that amphioxus akirin represented a true ortholog of the two characterized vertebrate akirin paralogs. Amphioxus akirin, coding 219 amino acids with two nuclear localization signal (NLS) sequences and one 14-3-3 binding motif, was widely expressed in various tissues and up-regulated in response to Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacterium) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacterium) challenges. Furthermore, amphioxus akirin was strictly localized to the nucleus of HEK293T cells in a confocal analysis. Our work identified and characterized for the first time an amphioxus akirin homolog and will promote a better understanding of the evolution and transcriptional network of the akirin gene family.
authors.affiliation: Marine Biotechnology Research Center, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cells and Developmental Biology, Institute of Developmental Biology, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Shanda Nan Lu 27#, Jinan, Shandong 250100, PR China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Renwei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D064175:Lancelets / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000502:physiology; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: Akirin; Amphioxus; Bacterial challenge; Evolution; NF-κB