Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China.
Fish Shellfish Immunol. 2018 Jun;77:233-243. doi: 10.1016/j.fsi.2018.03.034. Epub 2018 Mar 20.
The Wnt gene family encodes secreted glycoproteins involved in a wide variety of biological processes, including embryo development, cell proliferation and differentiation, and tissue regeneration. The Wnt pathway exists in all metazoan animals, however, the relevant research is rare in crustaceans. Here we described 12 Wnt genes representing 12 Wnt gene subfamilies in the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Based on homolog annotations and phylogenetic analyses, we named these 12 Wnt genes as LvWnt1, LvWnt2, LvWnt4-11, LvWnt16, and LvWntA. All the corresponding LvWnt proteins shared a conserved Wnt1 domain and 22 conserved cysteine residues. LvWnt1 and LvWnt6 were adjacent in a scaffold in the shrimp genome. Furthermore, we performed expression analyses of LvWnt genes at different developmental stages, during the molting process, in different tissues and after different pathogenic infection. We showed that each LvWnt gene had a unique expression pattern at different developmental stages but only a few of them expressed in adult shrimp. All the investigated LvWnt genes were initially expressed at the gastrula or limb bud embryo stages. Among them, LvWnt8 was specifically high expressed only in early embryos. LvWntA and LvWnt5 displayed high and similar expression profiles during the molting process, and LvWnt6 and LvWnt16 were specifically expressed in the thoracic ganglion, ventral nerve, intestines and gill tissues, respectively. We also found the expression of LvWntA, LvWnt5, LvWnt6, LvWnt9, and LvWnt16 were varied in the different tissues after infected with Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), which indicated that they might participate in immune response in L. vannamei. This study provided an insight into the repertoire of the Wnt gene structure and expression in shrimps, and furthermore, might promote the understanding of development, growth and immune response of shrimps and crustaceans.
Wnt 基因家族编码参与广泛生物学过程的分泌糖蛋白，包括胚胎发育、细胞增殖和分化以及组织再生。Wnt 途径存在于所有后生动物中，但在甲壳动物中的相关研究很少。在这里，我们描述了 12 种 Wnt 基因，代表太平洋白对虾（Litopenaeus vannamei）中的 12 个 Wnt 基因亚家族。根据同源注释和系统发育分析，我们将这 12 种 Wnt 基因命名为 LvWnt1、LvWnt2、LvWnt4-11、LvWnt16 和 LvWntA。所有相应的 LvWnt 蛋白都共享一个保守的 Wnt1 结构域和 22 个保守的半胱氨酸残基。LvWnt1 和 LvWnt6 在虾基因组的一个支架中相邻。此外，我们在不同的发育阶段、蜕皮过程中、不同组织中和不同的病原体感染后，对 LvWnt 基因的表达进行了分析。结果表明，每个 LvWnt 基因在不同的发育阶段都有独特的表达模式，但只有少数基因在成年虾中表达。所有研究的 LvWnt 基因最初都在原肠胚或肢芽胚胎阶段表达。其中，LvWnt8 仅在早期胚胎中特异性高表达。LvWntA 和 LvWnt5 在蜕皮过程中表达水平较高且相似，LvWnt6 和 LvWnt16 分别特异性表达于胸神经节、腹神经、肠和鳃组织。我们还发现，LvWntA、LvWnt5、LvWnt6、LvWnt9 和 LvWnt16 在感染金黄色葡萄球菌、副溶血弧菌和白斑综合征病毒（WSSV）后的不同组织中的表达存在差异，这表明它们可能参与了南美白对虾的免疫反应。本研究深入了解了虾类 Wnt 基因结构和表达的全貌，进一步促进了对虾类和甲壳动物发育、生长和免疫反应的理解。
