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Back to 2006 GSM
Characterization of lysosomal phospholipase A2 in Crassostrea virginica
Mairead Bermingham1, Christina Romano2, and Steven Roberts2
1Aquaculture and Fisheries Development Center, National University of Ireland, Cork.
2Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica is an environmentally and economically important mollusk in United States. Populations have experienced a significant decline as a result of over fishing, habitat degradation and disease. One of the primary diseases of C. virginica is ‘Dermo’, caused by the protozoan parasite Perkinsus marinus. This research focused on the role of the cellular component in the shellfish immune response. One important element in host defense is the proinflammation/proapoptotic ceramide pathway. To better understand the mechanisms of this pathway, a major constituent was isolated and characterized in the oyster. Using a degenerative primer based approach a 693 base pair lysosomal phospholipase (LP A2) gene was obtained from oyster hemocyte cDNA (GenBank accession number DQ889751). The deduced amino acid sequence had the greatest homology (68% similarity) with a zebrafish lysosomal phosholipase A2 gene (GenBank accession number AAH66598). SYBR Green based real-time reverse transcription-PCR was used to examine LP A2 expression levels in oyster tissues. The LP A2 expression levels were at least five fold greater in gill and mantle tissue, compared to the other tissues examined. This finding is expected, as both gill and mantle are hemocyte rich tissues. Hemocytes are the cellular component of the shellfish immune system. Furthermore, LP A2 expression levels in hemocytes were characterized from two geographically isolated C. virginica populations (n=16) in Massachusetts. Significantly greater LP A2 expression levels (P=0.007) were observed in oyster population that historically experienced greater Dermo pressure. The characterization of LP A2 in the eastern oyster and expression analysis results suggest the ceramide pathway could play a role in shellfish immune function.
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