In this study, we have reported a full length of peroxiredoxin (designated MrPrdx) gene, identified from the transcriptome of freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The complete gene sequence of the MrPrdx is 940 base pairs in length, and encodes 186 amino acids. MrPrdx contains a long thioredoxin domain in the amino acid sequence between 34 and 186. The gene expressions of MrPrdx in healthy and the infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) challenged M. rosenbergii were examined using quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction. MrPrdx is highly expressed in all the other tissues of M. rosenbergii considered for analysis and the highest in gills. The expression is strongly up-regulated in gills after IHHNV infection. To understand MrPrdx functional properties, the recombinant MrPrdx protein was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and purified. A peroxidise activity assay was conducted using recombinant MrPrdx protein at different concentrations. This peroxidises activity showed that the recombinant MrPrdx is a thiol-dependant protein. Additionally, this result showed that recombinant MrPrdx protein, as a secretory protein can remove H₂O₂ and protect DNA damage. This finding leads a possible way to propose the recombinant MrPrdx protein as an effective medicine for reactive oxygen species (ROS) related diseases.
Arginine kinase-1 (MrAK-1) was sequenced from the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii using Illumina Solexa Genome Analyzer Technique. MrAK-1 consisted of 1068 bp nucleotide encoded 355 polypeptide with an estimated molecular mass of 40 kDa. MrAK-1 sequence contains a potential ATP:guanido phosphotransferases active domain site. The deduced amino acid sequence of MrAK-1 was compared with other 7 homologous arginine kinase (AK) and showed the highest identity (96%) with AK-1 from cherry shrimp Neocaridina denticulate. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed a broad expression of MrAK-1 with the highest expression in the muscle and the lowest in the eyestalk. The expression of MrAK-1 after challenge with the infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) was tested in muscle. In addition, MrAK-1 was expressed in Escherichia coli by prokaryotic expression plasmid pMAL-c2x. The optimum temperature (30 °C) and pH (8.5) was determined for the enzyme activity assay. MrAK-1 showed significant (P < 0.05) activity towards 10-50 mM ATP concentration. The enzyme activity was inhibited by α-ketoglutarate, glucose and ATP at the concentration of 10, 50 and 100 mM respectively. Conclusively, the findings of this study indicated that MrAK-1 might play an important role in the coupling of energy production and utilization and the immune response in shrimps.
The world production of shrimp such as the Malaysian giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii is seriously affected by the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). There is an urgent need to understand the host pathogen interaction between M. rosenbergii and WSSV which will be able to provide a solution in controlling the spread of this infectious disease and lastly save the aquaculture industry. Now, using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), we will be able to capture the response of the M. rosenbergii to the pathogen and have a better understanding of the host defence mechanism. Two cDNA libraries, one of WSSV-challenged M. rosenbergii and a normal control one, were sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 platform. After de novo assembly and clustering of the unigenes from both libraries, 63,584 standard unigenes were generated with a mean size of 698bp and an N50 of 1137bp. We successfully annotated 35.31% of all unigenes by using BLASTX program (E-value <10-5) against NCBI non-redundant (Nr), Swiss-Prot, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome pathway (KEGG) and Orthologous Groups of proteins (COG) databases. Gene Ontology (GO) assessment was conducted using BLAST2GO software. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by using the FPKM method showed 8443 host genes were significantly up-regulated whereas 5973 genes were significantly down-regulated. The differentially expressed immune related genes were grouped into 15 animal immune functions. The present study showed that WSSV infection has a significant impact on the transcriptome profile of M. rosenbergii's hepatopancreas, and further enhanced the knowledge of this host-virus interaction. Furthermore, the high number of transcripts generated in this study will provide a platform for future genomic research on freshwater prawns.
The occurrences of multiple drug-resistant strains have been relentlessly increasing in recent years. The aquaculture industry has encountered major disease outbreaks and crucially affected by this situation. The usage of non-specific chemicals and antibiotics expedites the stimulation of resistant strains. Triggering the natural defense mechanism would provide an effective and safest way of protecting the host system. Hence, we have investigated the innate immune function of serine/threonine-protein kinase (STPK) in Macrobrachium rosenbergii (Mr). The in-silico protein analysis resulted in the identification of cationic antimicrobial peptide, MrSL-19, with interesting properties from STPK of M. rosenbergii. Antimicrobial assay, FACS and SEM analysis demonstrated that the peptide potentially inhibits Staphylococcus aureus by interacting with its membrane. The toxic study on MrSL-19 demonstrated that the peptide is not toxic against HEK293 cells as well as human erythrocytes. This investigation showed the significant innate immune property of an efficient cationic antimicrobial peptide, MrSL-19 of STPK from M. rosenbergii.
This study reports the first full length gene of interferon related developmental regulator-1 (designated as MrIRDR-1), identified from the transcriptome of Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The complete gene sequence of the MrIRDR-1 is 2459 base pair long with an open reading frame of 1308 base pairs and encoding a predicted protein of 436 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 48 kDa. The MrIRDR-1 protein contains a long interferon related developmental regulator super family domain between 30 and 330. The mRNA expressions of MrIRDR-1 in healthy and the infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) infected M. rosenbergii were examined using qRT-PCR. The MrIRDR-1 is highly expressed in hepatopancreas along with all other tissues (walking leg, gills, muscle, haemocyte, pleopods, brain, stomach, intestine and eye stalk). After IHHNV infection, the expression is highly upregulated in hepatopancreas. This result indicates an important role of MrIRDR-1 in prawn defense system.
Apoptosis is genetically programmed cellular killing processes that execute unnecessary or infected cells. It plays an important role in embryogenesis, homeostasis, insect metamorphosis and immunity. Apoptosis inhibitor (MrIAP) was sequenced from the freshwater giant prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii using Illumina Solexa Genome Analyzer Technique. MrIAP consisted of 1753 base pair nucleotides encoded 535 polypeptide with an estimated molecular mass of 60 kDa. MrIAP amino acid sequence contains IAP superfamily domain between 5 and 490. The deduced amino acid sequences of the MrIAP were aligned with the other IAP family members. The highest sequence similarity was observed in IAP-5 from ant Camponotus floridanus (67%) followed by IAP from body louse Pediculus humanus corporis (66%) and the lowest (62%) in IAP-5 isoform-5 from common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes and IAP-5 from Aedes aegypti. The IAP phylogenetic tree showed that MrIAP closely related to other arthropod blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis, formed a sister group with IAP from a hemichordate acorn worm Saccoglossus kowalevskii and finally clustered together with IAPs from fish groups. The quantitative real time PCR analysis revealed that significantly (P < 0.05) highest expression was noticed in hepatopancreas and significantly (P < 0.05) lowest expression in pleopods. Based on the results of gene expression analysis, MrIAP mRNA transcription in M. rosenbergii challenged to infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) was highly induced in hepatopancreas. The collective results of this study indicate that the MrIAP is an essential immune gene and influences the immune response against IHHNV infection in M. rosenbergii.
The prophenoloxidase activating system is an important innate immune response against microbial infections in invertebrates. The major enzyme, phenoloxidase, is synthesized as an inactive precursor and its activation to an active enzyme is mediated by a cascade of clip domain serine proteinases. In this study, a cDNA encoding a prophenoloxidase activating enzyme-III from the giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, designated as MrProAE-III, was identified and characterized. The full-length cDNA contains an open reading frame of 1110 base pair (bp) encoding a predicted protein of 370 amino acids including an 22 amino acid signal peptide. The MrProAE-III protein exhibits a characteristic sequence structure of a long serine proteases-trypsin domain and an N- and C-terminal serine proteases-trypsin family histidine active sites, respectively, which together are the characteristics of the clip-serin proteases. Sequence analysis showed that MrProAE-III exhibited the highest amino acid sequence similarity (63%) to a ProAE-III from Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. MrProAE-III mRNA and enzyme activity of MrProAE-III were detectable in all examined tissues, including hepatopancreas, hemocytes, pleopods, walking legs, eye stalk, gill, stomach, intestine, brain and muscle with the highest level of both in hepatopancreas. This is regulated after systemic infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus infection supporting that it is an immune-responsive gene. These results indicate that MrProAE-III functions in the proPO system and is an important component in the prawn immune system.
This study reports the comprehensive comparative information of two different detoxification enzymes such as glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) delta and kappa from freshwater giant prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii (designated as MrGSTD and MrGSTK) by investigating their in-silico characters and mRNA modulation against various biotic and abiotic oxidative stressors. The physico-chemical properties of these cDNA and their polypeptide structure were analyzed using various bioinformatics program. The analysis indicated the variation in size of the polypeptides, presence or absence of domains and motifs and structure. Homology and phylogenetic analysis revealed that MrGSTD shared maximum identity (83%) with crustaceans GST delta, whereas MrGSTK fell in arthropods GST kappa. It is interesting to note that MrGSTD and MrGSTK shared only 21% identity; it indicated their structural difference. Structural analysis indicated that MrGSTD to be canonical dimer like shape and MrGSTK appeared to be butterfly dimer like shape, in spite of four β-sheets being conserved in both GSTs. Tissue specific gene expression analysis showed that both MrGSTD and MrGSTK are highly expressed in immune organs such as haemocyte and hepatopancreas, respectively. To understand the role of mRNA modulation of MrGSTD and MrGSTK, the prawns were inducted with oxidative stressors such as bacteria (Vibrio harveyi), virus [white spot syndrome virus (WSSV)] and heavy metal, cadmium (Cd). The analysis revealed an interesting fact that both MrGSTD and MrGSTK showed higher (P