摘要
As an aquatic fish,the spotted halibut Verasper variegatus is highly susceptible to bacterial and virus infections.Tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α)as a cytokine could control the inflammatory responses.The functions of TNF-αin many species have been widely studied,particularly in mammals.However,little is known about the TNF-αfunctions in V.variegatus.We first cloned and sequenced the TNF-αgene in V.variegatus(VvTNF-α).The two conserved cysteine residues,transmembrane sequence,Thr-Leu motif,and TNF family signature,as well as the TA-rich motifs of its proteins related to inflammatory responses had high similarity to those of the other teleost and mammalian TNF-α.The phylogenetic analysis showed that VvTNF-αwas consistent with TNF-αgenes of other vertebrates.The VvTNF-αtranscripts were extensively distributed in the peripheral blood leukocytes(PBLs),spleen,and gill,indicating that the VvTNF-αhad a role in immune function.Furthermore,treatment with pathogen-associated molecular patterns(PAMPs)could induce a rapid and significant increase of VvTNF-αin the PBLs,which reveals that VvTNF-αdoes participate in the host immune responses against bacterial and viral pathogens.We found that VvTNF-αhad an interesting expression pattern during metamorphosis,showing that the flatfish TNF-αmay have some novel functions during specific developmental stages.In addition,the 3 D structure prediction of VvTNF-αprovided an indication of how it is likely to interact with other proteins.Therefore,VvTNF-αhas multiple functions,and provides valuable information to explore novel functions of TNF-α.
As an aquatic fish,the spotted halibut Verasper variegatus is highly susceptible to bacterial and virus infections.Tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α) as a cytokine could control the inflammatory responses.The functions of TNF-α in many species have been widely studied,particularly in mammals.However,little is known about the TNF-α functions in V.variegatus.We first cloned and sequenced the TNF-α gene in V.variegatus(VvTNF-α).The two conserved cysteine residues,transmembrane sequence,Thr-Leu motif,and TNF family signature,as well as the TA-rich motifs of its proteins related to inflammatory responses had high similarity to those of the other teleost and mammalian TNF-α.The phylogenetic analysis showed that VvTNF-α was consistent with TNF-α genes of other vertebrates.The VvTNF-α transcripts were extensively distributed in the peripheral blood leukocytes(PBLs),spleen,and gill,indicating that the VvTNF-α had a role in immune function.Furthermore,treatment with pathogen-associated molecular patterns(PAMPs) could induce a rapid and significant increase of VvTNF-α in the PBLs,which reveals that VvTNF-α does participate in the host immune responses against bacterial and viral pathogens.We found that VvTNF-α had an interesting expression pattern during metamorphosis,showing that the flatfish TNF-α may have some novel functions during specific developmental stages.In addition,the 3 D structure prediction of VvTNF-α provided an indication of how it is likely to interact with other proteins.Therefore,VvTNF-α has multiple functions,and provides valuable information to explore novel functions of TNF-α.
基金
Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(863 Program)(No.31101891)
the Hitech Research and Development Program of China(No.2012AA10A408)
