Hemocyte-Mediated Phagocytosis in Crustaceans.

Phagocytosis is an ancient, highly conserved process in all multicellular organisms, through which the host can protect itself against invading microorganisms and environmental particles, as well as remove self-apoptotic cells/cell debris to maintain tissue homeostasis. In crustacean, phagocytosis by hemocyte has also been well-recognized as a crucial defense mechanism for the host against infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. In this review, we summarized the current knowledge of hemocyte-mediated phagocytosis, in particular focusing on the related receptors for recognition and internalization of pathogens as well as the downstream signal pathways and intracellular regulators involved in the process of hemocyte phagocytosis. We attempted to gain a deeper understanding of the phagocytic mechanism of different hemocytes and their contribution to the host defense immunity in crustaceans.

A novel RING finger protein CqRNF152-like with self-ubiquitination activity inhibits white spot syndrome virus infection in a crustacean Cherax quadricarinatus.

Really Interesting New Gene (RING) finger proteins are highly conserved molecules that participate in a variety of biological processes such as regulation of development, apoptosis and antiviral immunity in vertebrates. However, the functions of RING finger proteins are still poorly understood in crustaceans. Previously, we found that the transcript of a homolog of RING finger protein 152 (CqRNF152-like) was up-regulated in a differentially expressed transcriptome library of the haematopietic tissue (Hpt) cells from red claw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus upon white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection, which is one of the most devastating viral diseases for crustaceans like shrimp and crayfish. The full-length cDNA sequence of CqRNF152-like was then identified with 975 bp, including an ORF of 685 bp that encoded a 195 amino acids protein, a 5'- UTR of 180 bp, and a 3'-UTR with a poly (A) tail of 207 bp. The conserved domain prediction showed that CqRNF152-like contained a conserved RING-finger domain. Gene expression analysis showed that CqRNF152-like was distributed in all tissues examined and the transcript is significantly up-regulated after WSSV challenge both in vivo in Hpt tissue and in vitro in cultured Hpt cells. Furthermore, the transcripts of both an immediate early gene ie1 and a late envelope protein gene vp28 of WSSV were clearly increased in the Hpt tissues, hemocytes and cultured Hpt cells after gene silencing of CqRNF152-like, which were further proved to be significantly decreased after overloading of recombinant CqRNF152-like protein in Hpt cell cultures. Meanwhile, CqRNF152-like was found to bind with WSSV envelope protein VP28 by proteins pull-down assay. Similar to most of RNF proteins, CqRNF152-like protein sequence contained a conserved RING-finger domain and showed self-ubiquitination activity in a RING finger domain dependent manner. Taken together, CqRNF152-like is likely to function as an antiviral molecular against WSSV infection through interaction with the envelope protein VP28 in a crustacean C. quadricarinatus. This is the first report that a RING finger protein with directly antiviral functions via interaction with viral protein and self-ubiquitination activity in crustacean, which sheds new light on the molecular mechanism of WSSV infection and the control of white spot disease.

Cellular entry of white spot syndrome virus and antiviral immunity mediated by cellular receptors in crustaceans.

Enveloped virus usually utilizes the receptor-mediated multiple endocytic routes to enter permissive host cells for successful infection. Cellular receptors are cell surface molecules, either by helping viral attachment to cell surface followed by internalization or by triggering antiviral immunity, participate in the viral-host interaction. White spot syndrome virus (WSSV), the most lethally viral pathogen with envelope and double strand DNA genome in crustacean farming, including shrimp and crayfish, has been recently found to recruit various endocytic routes for cellular entry into host cells. Meanwhile, other than the typical pattern recognition receptors for recognition of WSSV, more and more putative cellular receptors have lately been characterized to facilitate or inhibit WSSV entry. In this review, recent findings on the endocytosis-dependent WSSV entry, viral entry mediated by putative cellular receptors, the molecular interplay between WSSV and cellular receptors, and the following anti-WSSV immunity are summarized and discussed, which may provide us a better understanding of the WSSV pathogenesis and further possible antiviral control of white spot disease in crustacean farming.

A thymosin repeated protein1 reduces white spot syndrome virus replication in red claw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus.

The ß-thymosins are a group of structurally related, highly conserved intracellular small peptides in vertebrates with various biological functions, including cytoskeletal remodeling, neuronal development, cell migration, cell survival, tissue repair and inhibition of inflammation. In contrast to vertebrates, the function of ß-thymosin is not fully understood in crustaceans. Previously, we found that a thymosin-repeated protein1 (CqTRP1) gene was up-regulated after white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) challenge in hematopoietic tissue (Hpt) cells from the red claw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus. To further identify the effect of CqTRP1 on WSSV infection, a full length cDNA sequence of ß-thymosin homologue was cloned and analyzed from red claw crayfish followed by functional study. The CqTRP1 cDNA contains an open reading frame of 387 nucleotides encoding a protein of 129 amino acids with a putative molecular mass of 14.3 kDa. The amino acid sequence showed high identity with other ß-thymosins and contained three characteristic thymosin ß actin-binding motifs, suggesting that CqTRP1 was a member of the ß-thymosin family. Tissue distribution analysis revealed a ubiquitous presence of CqTRP1 in all the examined tissues with the highest expression in hemocytes, Hpt and gonad at the transcriptional level. Interestingly, the gene silencing of endogenous CqTRP1 by RNAi enhanced the WSSV replication in Hpt cells. Meanwhile, the WSSV replication was significantly reduced in the Hpt cell cultures if overloaded with a recombinant CqTRP1. Taken together, these data clearly indicated that CqTRP1 was likely to be associated with the anti-WSSV response in a crustacean C. quadricarinatus, which provides new strategy against white spot disease in crustacean aquaculture.

The immune-related fatty acids are responsive to CO2 driven seawater acidification in a crustacean brine shrimp Artemia sinica.

The gradual increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, absorbed by the ocean surface water through air to sea equilibration termed ocean acidification (OA), leads to the decline of pH in seawater. It is not clear so far how the composition of fatty acids, particular the immune-related, in marine crustacean and the subsequent energy supply in marine ecosystem are affected by OA. The brine shrimp Artemia sinica is an open and common feed that provide essential fatty acids for mariculture. In this study, the fatty acids profiles of brine shrimp cultured under different lower pH levels of CO2 driven seawater were investigated. The results showed a significant reduction of the proportion of total saturated fatty acids under the pH7.6 within one week. Meanwhile, the percentage of total monounsaturated fatty acids was significantly decreased at day 14 under pH7.8, and this percentage gave a significant increase of proportion within one week under pH7.6. Furthermore, the relative content of total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was found to be clearly increased with exposure to different seawater acidification at day 1, suggesting that the brine shrimp immune response was likely to be affected by acidified seawater as the PUFAs have been well known to be involved in immunomodulatory effects through alterations on cell membrane fluidity/lipid mediators and gene expression of cell signaling pathways. Notably, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, which have essential effect on various physiological processes such as inflammatory cytokines production and cell structural stability, were strongly increased under two lower pH treatments within one week and with the significant increase at day 1 under pH7.6. These data clearly supported the hypothesis that OA might affect fatty acids composition, likely also the innate immunity, in crustacean and the subsequent energy transfer by food-chain system in the marine ecosystem.