Shrimp Vago5 activates an innate immune defense upon bacterial infection

Pakpoom Boonchuen; Hafeeza Sakhor; Phattarunda Jaree; Kunlaya Somboonwiwat

doi:10.1016/j.fsi.2021.10.044

Shrimp Vago5 activates an innate immune defense upon bacterial infection

Fish Shellfish Immunol. 2022 Jan:120:122-132. doi: 10.1016/j.fsi.2021.10.044. Epub 2021 Nov 3.

Authors

Pakpoom Boonchuen¹, Hafeeza Sakhor¹, Phattarunda Jaree², Kunlaya Somboonwiwat³

Affiliations

¹ Center of Excellence for Molecular Biology and Genomics of Shrimp, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
² Center of Applied Shrimp Research and Innovation, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Mahidol University, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
³ Center of Excellence for Molecular Biology and Genomics of Shrimp, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Electronic address: kunlaya.s@chula.ac.th.

PMID: 34742902
DOI: 10.1016/j.fsi.2021.10.044

Abstract

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease, AHPND, caused by a specific Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VP_AHPND) strain, results in a great loss of global shrimp production. This study performed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) to identify differentially expressed genes from white shrimp Penaeus vannamei hemocyte upon VP_AHPND infection. Among the immune-related genes identified, Vago5, kunitz, secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor, and profilin are the most abundant genes classified as the up-regulated genes in the SSH library. The qRT-PCR results show that only Vago5 was highly up-regulated at 3 and 6 h post-VP_AHPND challenge, whereas kunitz, secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor, and profilin were highly up-regulated at 48 h post-VP_AHPND challenge. As an early VP_AHPND infection-responsive gene, Vago5 was further functional characterized by RNA interference. Knockdown of Vago5 gene resulted in the significantly rapid increase of shrimp mortality and the number of bacteria in the stomach and hepatopancreas upon VP_AHPND infection. Moreover, downstream genes of Toll, IMD, and JAK/STAT pathways and phenoloxidase system were analyzed for the expression in the VP_AHPND-infected shrimp hemocyte after dsVago5 treatment. Vago5 gene knockdown resulted in a significant decrease in transcript levels of PEN4, TNF, and PO2 genes as well as PO activity in the hemolymph, suggesting that Vago5 might modulate antibacterial infection through activation of the genes in the NF-κB mediated pathways, JAK/STAT pathway, and phenoloxidase system.

Keywords: Penaeus vannamei; Shrimp immunity; Vago5; Vibrio parahaemolyticus AHPND.

MeSH terms

Animals
Bacterial Infections* / veterinary
Immunity, Innate*
Monophenol Monooxygenase
Penaeidae* / genetics
Penaeidae* / immunology
Profilins
Vibrio parahaemolyticus*

Substances

Profilins
Monophenol Monooxygenase