title: Identification of a novel alternative splicing variant of hemocyanin from shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei.
abstract: Recent evidences suggest that invertebrates express families of immune molecules with high levels of sequence diversity. Hemocyanin is an important non-specific immune molecule present in the hemolymph of both mollusks and arthropods. In the present study, we characterized a novel alternative splicing variant of hemocyanin (cHE1) from Litopenaeus vannamei that produced mRNA transcript of 2579 bp in length. The isoform contained two additional sequences of 296 and 267 bp in the 5'- and 3'-terminus respectively, in comparison to that of wild type hemocyanin (cHE). Sequence of cHE1 shows 100% identity to that of hemocyanin genomic DNA (HE, which does not form an open reading frame), suggesting that cHE1 might be an alternative splicing variant due to intron retention. Moreover, cHE1 could be detected by RT-PCR from five tissues (heart, gill, stomach, intestine and brain), and from shrimps at stages from nauplius to mysis larva. Further, cHE1 mRNA transcripts were significantly increased in hearts after 12h of infection with Vibrio parahemolyticus or poly I: C, while no significant difference in the transcript levels of hepatopancreas cHE was detected in the pathogen-treated shrimps during the period. In summary, these studies suggested a novel splicing variant of hemocyanin in shrimp, which might be involved in shrimp resistance to pathogenic infection.
authors: Department of Biology and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Shantou University, Shantou 515063, China.
authors: Shan
authors: S
authors: Zhao
authors: Xin
authors: X
authors: Lu
authors: Yueling
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Xianliang
authors: X
authors: Zhao
authors: Mingqi
authors: M
authors: Zhong
authors: Shengkang
authors: S
authors: Li
authors: Jingsheng
authors: J
authors: Lun
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001156:Artemia; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006433:Hemocyanins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007109:Immunity; D007814:Larva; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D011070:Poly I-C / Q000276:immunology; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014735:Vibrio Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D014736:Vibrio parahaemolyticus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D020033:Protein Isoforms; D006433:Hemocyanins; D011070:Poly I-C
keywords: Alternative splicing variant; Hemocyanin; Litopenaeus vannamei; cHE1