Anti-lipopolysaccharide factors in the American lobster Homarus americanus: molecular characterization and transcriptional response to Vibrio fluvialis challenge.

ABSTRACT: Two partial mRNA sequences predicted to encode anti-lipopolysaccharide factors (ALFs) were identified among expressed sequence tags generated from the American lobster Homarus americanus and complete cDNA sequences were obtained from library clones. Comparison of the translated amino acid sequences to those publicly available confirmed similarity to arthropod anti-lipopolysaccharide factors. Both protein sequences, designated ALFHa-1 and ALFHa-2, contained an N-terminal signal peptide and two half-cysteines participating in a disulfide bridge, features conserved in other ALFs. Predicted secondary structures were similar to that described for the ALF from the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus. As part of an exploratory study of immunity in H. americanus, lobsters were injected with the bact

SUBMITTER: Beale KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2612121 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature