HIF-1α interacting with miR-2013-3p regulates pathogen-induced energy production changes via targeting glutamate dehydrogenase in the sea urchin .

To investigate the functions of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) homologs, we cloned and characterized the full-length cDNA of a novel homolog () from the sea urchin . We then explored the functions of and its regulatory factor (miR-2013-3p) in the pathogen-induced metabolic response of . The results showed the following: 1) The full-length cDNA of was 4265 bp, with a high level of sequence conservation across the phylum Echinodermata. 2) MiR-2013-3p could bind to the 3'-UTR of and negatively regulate the expression of in . 3) Both silencing and miR-2013-3p overexpression suppressed the relative content of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in coelomocytes as well as the relative expression (mRNA and protein) and total enzyme activity of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) in . 4) The miR-2013-3p/ axis may regulate ATP production at 6-24 h and 48-72 h post-pathogen infection through accompanied by alterations in the relative expression and enzyme activity of GDH in . In summary, all observations from this study indicated that the pathogen utilizes the miR-2013-3p/SinHIF-1α axis to reduce ATP production and thereby attenuate the antimicrobial capability of the host via targeting GDH.