Lysozyme is an important component of the innate immunity system against invading pathogens. An invertebrate (i-type) lysozyme from the hepatopancreas of Kuruma shrimp Marsupenaeus japonicus (Mj-ilys) was identified. The full-length cDNA of Mj-ilys was 580bp with a 429 bp open reading frame encoding a 142 amino acid polypeptide. The encoded polypeptide was predicted to have a 17 amino acid signal peptide, and a 125 amino acid mature protein with a theoretical mass of 14.099 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 4.18. A Destabilase conserved domain was predicted in Mj-ilys amino acid sequences which may be stable by 10 cysteine residues forming 5 disulfide bonds. Mj-ilys may loss the muramidase and isopeptidase activities due to the lack of the key catalytic residues. Mj-ilys had high homologous of 80-82% with i-type lysozymes of penaeid shrimps. It was first grouped with other i-type lysozyme of shrimps and crabs in a phylogenetic tree predicted by the Neighbor-Joining method. Mj-ilys mRNA was expressed mainly in hepatopancreas and almost undetectable in other tissues. The mRNA expression of Mj-ilys were all found from fertilized eggs to post-larvae of 17 days (PL17), and its expression exhibited significant differences among each developmental stage. After white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) challenge (3.6 × 10(8) virions/μl), the time-dependent expression pattern of Mj-ilys in hepatopancreas and gills showed significantly different. These results indicated that Mj-ilys is potentially involved in the ontogenesis and immune defense in Kuruma shrimp.
Keywords: Developmental expression; Immune response; Invertebrate lysozyme; Marsupenaeus japonicus; WSSV.
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