title: Concholepas concholepas Ferritin H-like subunit (CcFer): Molecular characterization and single nucleotide polymorphism associated to innate immune response.
abstract: Ferritin has been identified as the principal protein of iron storage and iron detoxification, playing a pivotal role for the cellular homeostasis in living organisms. However, recent studies in marine invertebrates have suggested its association with innate immune system. In the present study, one Ferritin subunit was identified from the gastropod Concholepas concholepas (CcFer), which was fully characterized by Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends technique. Simultaneously, a challenge test was performed to evaluate the immune response against Vibrio anguillarum. The full length of cDNA Ccfer was 1030 bp, containing 513 bp of open reading frame that encodes to 170 amino acid peptide, which was similar to the Ferritin H subunit described in vertebrates. Untranslated Regions (UTRs) were identified with a 5'UTR of 244 bp that contains iron responsive element (IRE), and a 3'UTR of 273 bp. The predicted molecular mass of deduced amino acid of CcFer was 19.66 kDa and isoelectric point of 4.92. Gene transcription analysis revealed that CcFer increases against infections with V. anguillarum, showing a peak expression at 6 h post-infection. Moreover, a single nucleotide polymorphism was detected at -64 downstream 5'UTR sequence (SNP-64). Quantitative real time analysis showed that homozygous mutant allele (TT) was significantly associated with higher expression levels of the challenged group compared to wild (CC) and heterozygous (CT) variants. Our findings suggest that CcFer is associated to innate immune response in C. concholepas and that the presence of SNPs may involve differential transcriptional expression of CcFer.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), University of Concepción, P.O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chávez-Mardones
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valenzuela-Muñoz
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Núñez-Acuña
authors.forename: Waleska
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Maldonado-Aguayo
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gallardo-Escárate
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001052:Apoferritins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D049851:Gastropoda / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology; D005838:Genotype; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: D001052:Apoferritins
keywords: Ferritin H subunit; HRMA; Immune response; SNP; qPCR