title: Identification and characterization of a Macrobrachium nipponense ferritin subunit regulated by iron ion and pathogen challenge.
abstract: Ferritin, a major iron storage protein in most living organisms, plays a crucial role in iron metabolism. In this study, the ferritin subunit MnFer was identified in the oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) and functionally characterized. The full-length cDNA of MnFer is 999 bp in size with a 122-bp 5'-untranslated region (UTR), a 364-bp 3'-UTR and a 513-bp open reading frame that encodes a protein possessing 171 amino acids and a deduced molecular weight of 19.40 kDa. Prawn ferritin transcripts are expressed in muscle, heart, hepatopancreas, gill, hemocytes, ovary and testis. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that the abundance of ferritin transcript was highest in the hepatopancreas followed by muscle. Ferritin transcript expression in muscle increased six-fold 3 h after the injection of iron. In the gill, a four-fold increase in ferritin transcript expression was detected 3 h post-injection; the expression remained elevated for 48 h. Heart ferritin mRNA expression increased up to seven-fold at 24 h post-injection. No significant difference was found in the hepatopancreas. The iron binding capacity of recombinant ferritin protein was also demonstrated in this study. In hemocyte experiments, the transcriptional expression of MnFer showed the strongest response to Aeromonas hydrophila. As a whole, our study suggested that the ferritin from M. nipponense may play critical roles in cellular and organismic iron homeostasis along with in innate immune defense.
authors.affiliation: Agriculture Ministry Key Laboratory of Healthy Freshwater Aquaculture, Zhejiang Institute of Freshwater Fisheries, Huzhou 313001, China; Key Laboratory of Genetic Breeding and Aquaculture Biology of Freshwater Fishes, Ministry of Agriculture, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China.
authors.forename: Shengming
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Agriculture Ministry Key Laboratory of Healthy Freshwater Aquaculture, Zhejiang Institute of Freshwater Fisheries, Huzhou 313001, China; Key Laboratory of Fish Healthy and Nutrition of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Institute of Freshwater Fisheries, Huzhou 313001, China.
authors.forename: Zhimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetic Breeding and Aquaculture Biology of Freshwater Fishes, Ministry of Agriculture, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China. Electronic address: fuht@ffrc.cn.
authors.forename: Hongtuo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetic Breeding and Aquaculture Biology of Freshwater Fishes, Ministry of Agriculture, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China. Electronic address: zhuj@ffrc.cn.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Coastal Wetland Bioresources and Environmental Protection, Yancheng Teachers University, Yancheng 224051, China.
authors.forename: Fujun
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xuan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetic Breeding and Aquaculture Biology of Freshwater Fishes, Ministry of Agriculture, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China.
authors.forename: Xianping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
mesh_terms: D016980:Aeromonas hydrophila / Q000502:physiology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D060829:Arthropod Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005293:Ferritins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007501:Iron / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D033541:Palaemonidae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D060829:Arthropod Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D021122:Protein Subunits; D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron
keywords: Ferritin; Gene expression; Iron; Macrobrachium nipponense; cDNA cloning