title: The Silencing of a 14-3-3ɛ Homolog in Tenebrio molitor Leads to Increased Antimicrobial Activity in Hemocyte and Reduces Larval Survivability.
abstract: The 14-3-3 family of phosphorylated serine-binding proteins acts as signaling molecules in biological processes such as metabolism, division, differentiation, autophagy, and apoptosis. Herein, we report the requirement of 14-3-3ɛ isoform from Tenebrio molitor (Tm14-3-3ɛ) in the hemocyte antimicrobial activity. The Tm14-3-3ɛ transcript is 771 nucleotides in length and encodes a polypeptide of 256 amino acid residues. The protein has the typical 14-3-3 domain, the nuclear export signal (NES) sequence, and the peptide binding residues. The Tm14-3-3ɛ transcript shows a significant three-fold expression in the hemocyte of T. molitor larvae when infected with Escherichia coli Tm14-3-3ɛ silenced larvae show significantly lower survival rates when infected with E. coli. Under Tm14-3-3ɛ silenced condition, a strong antimicrobial activity is elicited in the hemocyte of the host inoculated with E. coli. This suggests impaired secretion of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) into the hemolymph. Furthermore, a reduction in AMP secretion under Tm14-3-3ɛ silenced condition would be responsible for loss in the capacity to kill bacteria and might explain the reduced survivability of the larvae upon E. coli challenge. This shows that Tm14-3-3ɛ is required to maintain innate immunity in T. molitor by enabling antimicrobial secretion into the hemolymph and explains the functional specialization of the isoform.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Environmentally-Friendly Agriculture (IEFA), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea. ndnd2@nate.com.
authors.forename: Gi Won
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Environmentally-Friendly Agriculture (IEFA), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea. yhun1228@jnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yong Hun
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Jo
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Environmentally-Friendly Agriculture (IEFA), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea. dmdtkal222@nate.com.
authors.forename: Jeong Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Seong
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Environmentally-Friendly Agriculture (IEFA), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea. misson112@naver.com.
authors.forename: Ki Beom
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Trident School of Biotech Sciences, Trident Academy of Creative Technology, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar 751024, India. drbharatbhusan4@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bharat Bhusan
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Patnaik
authors.affiliation: The Soil Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Soil and Geological Sciences, College of Agriculture, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3008, Chuo Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania. tindwa@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hamisi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tindwa
authors.affiliation: Jeonnam Bioindustry Foundation Bio Control Research Center, Gokseong 516-942, Korea. sunam0907@naver.com.
authors.forename: Sun-Am
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science and Biotechnology, College of Natural Sciences, Soonchunhyang University, Asan 336-745, Korea. yslee@sch.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yong Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Natural Sciences, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA. yjkim@csusb.edu.
authors.forename: Yu Jung
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Environmentally-Friendly Agriculture (IEFA), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea. hanys@jnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yeon Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Han
keywords: AMP secretion; RNA interference; Tenebrio molitor; Tm14-3-3ɛ; innate immunity