Identification, Characterization and Expression Patterns of a Caspase-14 Gene from the Chinese Soft-Shelled Turtle Pelodiscus sinensis under Immune Challenge

Özet

A Caspase-14 gene homolog (designated as PsCaspase-14) in a reptile, the Chinese soft-shelled turtle Pelodiscussinensis (Wiegmann, 1835), has been cloned and identified. The full-length cDNA of turtle PsCaspase-14 was consisted of1,464 nucleotides with a 5’-terminal untranslated region (UTR) of 45 base pairs (bp), a 3’-terminal UTR of 198 bp with acanonical polyadenylation signal sequence AATAAA, and an open-reading frames of 1,068 bp, which encoding 406 aminoacids (Theoretical pI/Mw: 6.77/46.24kDa) and containing PAAD-DAPIN domain (52-133) and CASc domain (170-406).Sequence alignment, phylogenetic analyses, and structure comparison revealed that PsCaspase-14 is a member of the Caspasefamily. The Chinese soft-shelled turtles were infected with Aeromonas hydrophila and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and theirinnate immune responses were investigated from PsCaspase-14 mRNA expression levels in various tissues by using real-timePCR method. RT-qPCR analyses showed that turtles PsCaspase-14 mRNA was ubiquitously expressed in brain, liver, heart,lung, stomach, spleen, muscle, pancreas, gallbladder, kidney, and intestine tissues of control turtles, and RT-qPCR analysesfurther indicated that PsCaspase-14 mRNA was affected significantly in tissues of the turtles challenged by bacteria A.hydrophila and V. parahaemolyticus, suggesting that PsCaspase-14 might be involved in turtle antiviral immunity.