Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, No. 178 Daxue Road, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
Fish Shellfish Immunol. 2012 Oct;33(4):813-20. doi: 10.1016/j.fsi.2012.07.008. Epub 2012 Jul 31.
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) is a serine/threonine-specific kinase, which is activated by downstream signaling molecules of cellular activation, cytokine and chemokine stimulation and various other stimuli. Here we cloned an ERK gene from Litopenaeus vannamei and designated it as lverk. The lverk cDNA contained an open reading frame of 1098 bp encoding 365 amino acids. LVERK had a conserved TEY motif and serine/threonine protein kinase (S_TKc) domain, and close phylogenetic relationship to Penaeus monodon and Marsupenaeus japonicus ERK. Immunofluorescence staining analysis showed that following serum stimulation LVERK was located in cytoplasm and nucleus, but phospho-LVERK was prominently in nucleus, suggesting conserved ERK signaling module occurred in shrimp cells. Then during the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection, LVERK and phospho-LVERK increased at the early stage of infection. Once silencing of lverk in vivo, the replication of WSSV was obviously inhibited. Moreover, treatment of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor in vitro could result in reduction of WSSV proliferation and delay of viral early gene transcription. Our results indicated a role of LVERK involved in WSSV infection. Understanding how WSSV influences ERK signaling pathway to dismantle an effective immune response may lead to insight into pathogenic progression and possible disease control.
细胞外信号调节激酶（ERK）是一种丝氨酸/苏氨酸特异性激酶，被细胞激活、细胞因子和趋化因子刺激以及其他各种刺激的下游信号分子激活。在这里，我们从凡纳滨对虾（Litopenaeus vannamei）中克隆了一个 ERK 基因，并将其命名为 lverk。lverk cDNA 含有一个 1098 bp 的开放阅读框，编码 365 个氨基酸。LVERK 具有保守的 TEY 基序和丝氨酸/苏氨酸蛋白激酶（S_TKc）结构域，与斑节对虾（Penaeus monodon）和日本囊对虾（Marsupenaeus japonicus）ERK 具有密切的系统发育关系。免疫荧光染色分析表明，在血清刺激后，LVERK 位于细胞质和细胞核中，但磷酸化 LVERK 主要位于细胞核中，这表明 ERK 信号模块在虾细胞中发生了保守作用。然后，在白斑综合征病毒（WSSV）感染过程中，LVERK 和磷酸化 LVERK 在感染的早期阶段增加。体内沉默 lverk 后，WSSV 的复制明显受到抑制。此外，体外使用丝裂原活化蛋白激酶激酶抑制剂处理可导致 WSSV 增殖减少和病毒早期基因转录延迟。我们的研究结果表明，LVERK 在 WSSV 感染中起作用。了解 WSSV 如何影响 ERK 信号通路以破坏有效的免疫反应，可能有助于深入了解发病机制和可能的疾病控制。
