Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2019, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (1): 67-75.doi: 10.11978/2018034CSTR: 32234.14.2018034

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The gene structure of tlr21 in lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus, and its responses to CpG-ODN treatment

Yuan ZHANG1,2(), Geng QIN1, Bo ZHANG1,2, Qiang LIN1,2()   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2018-04-01 Revised:2018-05-21 Online:2019-01-16 Published:2019-01-16
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (41706178);Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2017A030313214)

Abstract:

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are the major pattern recognition receptors (PRR) of the innate immune system in vertebrates, which can initiate host immune responses by recognizing potential pathogens. The present study focused on the role of Tlr21 involved in immune responses in lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus). The full-length sequence of the lined seahorse tlr21 gene was cloned. The open reading frame (ORF) of seahorse tlr21 gene includes 2964 base pairs, which is predicted to encode 981 amino acids. The encoding protein had a predicted molecular mass of 246.98 kDa and an estimated isoelectric point of 4.78. Homology comparison and phylogenetic analysis showed that lined seahorse tlr21 shared high sequence identity with its homologs from other species, especially those species in Syngnathidae. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that tlr21 mRNA was widely expressed in various tissues and expressed highest in the kidney. We conducted intraperitoneal CpG-ODNs injections to the lined seahorses. Both CpG-2007 and CpG-HC4040 increased expression levels of tlr21 mRNA in seahorse kidney significantly. In conclusion, these findings indicated that tlr21 initiated the innate immunity in lined seahorse by recognizing CpG DNA.

Key words: tlr21, gene structure, CpG-ODN, immunity, Lined seahorse, tissue expression difference