title: First report on the gastropod proapoptotic AIF3 counterpart from disk abalone (Haliotis discus discus) deciphering its transcriptional modulation by induced pathogenic stress.
abstract: Apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) is a flavoprotein that is involved in oxidative phosphorylation and induces apoptosis in eukaryotic cells. There are three isozymes of AIF that have been identified to date, designated as AIF1, AIF2, and AIF3; the human AIF3 is also known as an AIF-like protein (AIFL). This study aimed to identify and characterize a homologue of AIF3 from disk abalone (AbAIF3) that belongs to the phylum Mollusca. The open reading frame (ORF) of AbAIF3 is 1749 base pairs (bp) in length and encodes a protein of 583 amino acids, with a predicted molecular mass of 63.14 kDa. Based on our in-silico analysis, the AbAIF3 protein harbored the typical domain architecture as that of the known AIF family proteins, consisting of N-terminal Rieske and pyridine nucleotide-disulphide oxidoreductase domain. Comparative protein sequence analysis confirmed that AbAIF3 is a homolog of AIF3. Moreover, our phylogenetic analysis revealed that AbAIF3 had a close evolutionary relationship with the molluscan counterparts. Interestingly, AbAIF3 was shown to induce apoptosis in HEK293T cells using transfection assays followed by flow cytometric analysis. In addition, we found that AbAIF3 mRNA expression was ubiquitous in physiologically important tissues, and significantly modulated upon experimental immune stimulations in hemocytes. Collectively, our study illustrates the indispensable role of AbAIF3 in inducing apoptosis in disk abalones, which in turn might be involved in hosts' immune defense mechanisms against microbial infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Life Sciences, School of Marine Biomedical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju Self-Governing Province 690-756, Republic of Korea; Fish Vaccine Development Center, Jeju National University, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province 690-756, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Don Anushka Sandaruwan
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Elvitigala
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Life Sciences, School of Marine Biomedical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju Self-Governing Province 690-756, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: R G P T
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Jayasooriya
authors.affiliation: Fish Vaccine Development Center, Jeju National University, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province 690-756, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ilson
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Whang
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Life Sciences, School of Marine Biomedical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju Self-Governing Province 690-756, Republic of Korea; Fish Vaccine Development Center, Jeju National University, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province 690-756, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jehee@jejunu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jehee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051033:Apoptosis Inducing Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D049851:Gastropoda / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D051033:Apoptosis Inducing Factor; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008934:Mitogens; D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: Apoptosis inducing factor 3; Apoptotic activity; Disk abalone; Immune stimulation; Transcriptional modulation